Leather and Lace
by Akimi Kono
Summary: A few friends meet the Marauders while out looking for ghosts. At first put off by the boys, they end up befriending them and growing to like them during their years at Hogwarts. NOTE: FIRST 4 CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN EDITED, REFORMATED AND REUPLOADED AS 10 SHORTER CHAPTERS. RemusxOFC. SiriusxOFC.
1. Whomped by a Willow

**A/N:** After much debate, I've decided to take the previous 4 chapters, edit them, and reformat them into 10 smaller chapters. This will make reading easier as well as making future chapter lengths consistent and updating more frequent. I also removed Bernice's accent to make the story easier for those who have trouble reading and interpreting written accents.

Please don't forget to review/comment, subscribe to alerts, and favorite this story!

* * *

"Unbelievable," Goldie whispered as she pushed a handful of curls out of her face to study the map. "Did you get us lost?"

"Me?" Catlin, the oldest of the lot, gasped in defense, " _You're_ the one leading us."

"Yeah, with a map _you_ made," she shot back.

"Shut up, both of you!" Evelyn, the redhead, spoke up, annoyed, "We're gonna get caught."

"I can't get caught," said Goldie, not the least bit of panic in her voice. "I have too much stuff to do. I have to take photos at the Quidditch game this weekend."

"Yeah and she," Evelyn jerked her thumb back at the second girl, "is a potential prefect. This will go on her record – if they keep records in this place."

"Wait," said Catlin, "I think I hear someone coming – hide!"

All three took off separately, heading for the shadows of the castle, finding refuge under bushes or against the corners of stone pillars. Waiting with bated breath, they listened closely. They could hear soft murmuring and footsteps, but couldn't see anything yet. Peeking out from their hiding spots, they squinted into the courtyard lit up by the half moon overhead. The footsteps and the conversation were getting louder, but they still couldn't see anyone. Perhaps whoever it was, was above them – walking along the open air corridors the three girls had just used.

Finally the footsteps stopped, but the talking didn't. They could make out what was being said as the voice carried on the still night.

"Be careful, James – you're stepping on my Pad _feet_."

"Oh, shut up, Sirius," came the reply. "I am not. It's Peter."

"I'm not! Ow – you've just elbowed me in the eye!"

"There's not enough room under here. James, you should really do something about this."

"Do what? I'm not a seamstress. Besides, what's it matter? We're out anyways."

All three girls watched in amazement as suddenly – out of thin air – a group of boys appeared. The one in the middle folded what looked like a blanket over his arm and adjusted his glasses.

"Right," he said, "now that we've got that all sorted … where's Remus?"

"Old Moony is probably waiting for us," said the boy with shoulder-length black hair. "It's not a full moon yet so he won't be in the Shrieking Shack."

"This is what happens when we sneak out separately," the glasses-wearing boy sighed.

Catlin, the potential prefect who felt she was going to pass out from holding her breath, sat up a little straighter against the castle wall. The Shrieking Shack? That's exactly where her group was going. She glanced around to find her friends; even though she couldn't see them, she knew they were thinking the same thing. What were these boys doing, going out to the Shrieking Shack? Or, rather, _not_ going there? It sounded like they made a habit of it, but only around the full moon. Were the ghosts extra active around then?

Silently, they watched as the three boys headed off into the distance to look for their missing friend. The girls slowly came out of hiding, meeting together in the shadow of the ancient castle.

"Evelyn," whispered Catlin, "who do you think they were?"

"Other students," she replied.

"Oh, jeez, thanks. Where do you think they're going?"

"It sounded like they were looking for someone," said Goldie, finally fishing a bobby pin out of her pocket and pinning her curls back. "Their friend, maybe?"

"Did you hear what they said?" Catlin kept her voice low but she felt excitement bubble up inside.

"Yeah," nodded Evelyn. "They said something about the Shrieking Shack."

"Are they going to be there too, then?" Goldie asked.

"No," said Catlin. "They said whoever they were looking for _wouldn't_ be there."

"So where _are_ they going?" Goldie watched the boys disappear into the dark forest.

"I don't know," Catlin sighed, "but I think we should get going. If we wait around here, we're gonna get caught."

"We've already gotten outside," Goldie replied, grinning. "We'll be fine." She held up the carefully drawn, but incomplete, map in front of her face, stepping out into the light to see it better.

"Can't we just use Lumos?" Evelyn held up her wand.

"Once we're farther away," Goldie said, tracing a line along the map with her index finger. "Are we here? Do we pass the West Tower? Wait … which tower is this?"

"There are so many towers," Evelyn grumbled. "You just need four, if that."

"I'll enchant it so it lights up itself," Catlin said. "Then we won't need to use our wands. We don't need to go all the way to the West Tower, but we can use it as a reference point."

"You should enchant it so it shows where we are," Evelyn suggested, looking over at the map, pointing. "Are we there? Isn't that this corridor here?"

"No," Goldie said, already knowing Evelyn was horrid with directions and maps. "Look around and see if you can find a landmark -"

"Here, we're here," Catlin interrupted, poking her finger to a spot on the map. "That tree," she indicated to a smudge on the paper, "is there." Pointing to a large tree ahead of them, she said, "I know where we are. I made the map. I've triple checked it. Besides I remember that tree because it looks like it's waving and I thought it was friendly – so I put it on the map."

All three looked over at the tree and indeed, it had a twisting branch that curved upwards and spreading twigs that looked like nimble fingers. They trembled in the autumn breeze, giving off the impression of hand gently waving salutations at the group.

"Everything looks different at night," Evelyn noted, "but at least you have your tree. He does look friendly. Have you given him a name?"

"Not yet. I couldn't think of a tree pun."

" _Ash_ ley. _Elm_ er. Mister Birch."

"Okay," Goldie said, "then that means we need to go _that_ way to get to the Shrieking Shack."

"Let's go then," Evelyn said eagerly. "We're wasting time and I'm out of tree puns."

They headed off in what they assumed to be the correct direction, keeping close together and casting hurried glances to keep watch. Once they were into the trees and the moonlight was obscured by the overhead branches, they each took out their wands.

"Lumos," they said in unison and soon they were surrounded in blue-white light that pushed shadows into hiding under the long branches of pine trees. Huddled over the map, they figured out which way to go.

"I think we head in that direction," Catlin said. "This is harder than I thought."

"Did you bring anything to amend the map?" Goldie asked.

Catlin rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a jar of black ink and a quill. "I guess this will do. I brought pencils over the summer but someone snatched them. Back to using quills."

"I don't hear anything, do you?" Evelyn lifted her wand higher, away from the group. "Isn't there supposed to be, you know, shrieking?"

Goldie folded the map. "Maybe the ghosts are sleeping," she teased. "I guess we'll find out once we get there."

The girls marched through the trees and down sloping hills. Their wands lit the way, blue lights bobbing around in the dark.

"I don't think I've been this far from the castle," Evelyn admitted. "I mean, aside from field trips to Hogsmeade."

"Are you _sure_ there's an entrance to the Shrieking Shack here?" Goldie waved her arm around, shining light all around. "Not that I don't trust you, but it's all … field! And trees."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," Catlin said. "I overheard Dumbledore mention it to Madam Pomfrey. I'm pretty certain it's by a tree ..."

"Did they happen to mention what kind of tree?" Goldie looked around. It was beginning to seem a bit hopeless. They only had so much time before they had to sneak back inside and get to bed.

"No – but … It'd have to be big enough to hide it, right?"

"We're surrounded by pine trees," Goldie observed, pointing with her wand and sending light upwards. "All of them are big enough to hide anything."

"What's an entrance to the Shrieking Shack doing on Hogwarts property anyway?" Evelyn used her wand's light to inspect a tree that had lost most of its lower branches. "I mean, the Shack is all the way in Hogsmeade, isn't it? What's it got to do with Hogwarts?"

"I don't know," Goldie murmured as she checked out another tree, circling around it to check for a secret door. "But there are ghosts in the castle, so maybe there were some really bad ghosts that were haunting the school so they forced them to move? You know, for students' safety?"

"According to the villagers, the ghosts are really violent." Catlin shuddered involuntarily, but she couldn't tell if it was from the idea of vengeful ghosts or the breeze running through the trees. "People say they can hear them screaming and tearing apart the inside of the Shack."

Evelyn frowned as she bent over to pull pine needles out of her shoes. "Can ghosts do that? Tear things up, I mean? I guess if they're corporeal – but they're not, you know, _living_. All the ghosts at Hogwarts just float around and go through walls. I've never seen them actually interact with anything. Hmm … maybe that's why they moved them to the Shrieking Shack. Not just because they're violent, but because they could actually hurt someone. Ooh, that's scary!"

"Well," Goldie huffed, crossing her arms, "they've certainly done a fantastic job of hiding this supposed entrance. There are hundreds of trees on this property, and we can't check them all tonight. And there's no way we can mark the ones we've already checked! This is going to take ages."

"That – wait! Did you hear that?" Evelyn turned around, holding out her wand. "I – I heard something. Do you think a teacher found us?"

"No way," Goldie stammered, turning to face where Evelyn was looking. "We were so careful! Maybe it's a squirrel."

"It sounded bigger than a squirrel," Evelyn whispered. "Like, teacher-sized or something."

A noise to the right grabbed their attention and they spun towards it, three wands raised in defense. Light poured over the creature that had made the noise – a huge stag, standing just a few meters away, staring at them. Pine needles and leaves crunched under its hooves as it took a step forward, its huge black eyes shining eerily in the light.

Gasping in surprise, they hurriedly shuffled backwards, wide-eyed.

"That's the biggest deer I've ever seen," Goldie said.

"It's going to stomp us to death," Catlin concluded. "Or stab us with its antlers. That's not how I want to die. I mean – I haven't given it much thought, but I just decided _that's_ not the way I wanna go."

"You're the one who wants to be a magizoologist," Goldie said, nudging Evelyn in the side. "Can't you … speak to it or something?"

"Deers aren't magical creatures. Besides – I'm not a deer whisperer!"

"Can't you do _something_? It's – it's looking at us. You're always reading that Wonderful Beasts book, aren't you?" Goldie gripped her wand tighter. "What do we do? Stun it?"

"It's _Fantastic_ Beasts, and you can't use a spell on an animal," Evelyn said quickly. "Maybe if we turn off our lights it'll go away …" Slowly, hesitantly, she lowered her wand. "Nox." A third of the light disappeared.

"Nox," Goldie echoed and her wand went out. Now only Catlin's light remained. She felt frightened either way. Having the light meant that this massive deer could see them – but it was some comfort knowing they wouldn't stumble around blindly. Plus not having any light would leave them in the dark with the beast still close to them. Could deers see in the dark? Just as she was about to put out the light, they heard something move behind them. Turning on their heels, Catlin's wand illuminated a huge black dog, standing even close than the deer was. Fearless, it stepped closer and bared its teeth. Out of some combination of fear and stupidity, the girls started screaming.

"Nox!" Catlin shouted, leaving them in nothing but the light of a half moon. Suddenly all logical spells and responses left them and they took off running. They were nearly blind as their eyes adjusted to the dark.

"Is it following?" Catlin shouted, clutching her wand.

"Keep running!" Goldie sprinted forward, nearly dropping the map as she ducked between two trees.

Evelyn said nothing, conserving her breath for running away and not useless commentary. They broke through the trees and came out into a clearing.

Catlin glanced over her shoulder to see if they were being followed. She could barely see anything, but she was convinced she heard footsteps – or rather, pawsteps – running after them. She turned back around and saw too late that she was in a collision course with a massive tree. She ran straight into it with a solid _thunk_ and her legs folded instantly, her head slamming against the cold earth when she collapsed. Groaning, she blinked her eyes open to look at the branches above. She gingerly touched her nose and felt blood running down her lip.

"Catlin!" Evelyn shouted, changing course and running for her friend. Hearing the commotion, Goldie also diverted from her path.

The huge black dog jumped in front of Evelyn, baring its teeth again and growling. She stumbled back, feeling her heart leap to her throat. Any way she tried to run, the dog was there, its fur bristling up on the back of its neck. When she got too close, it made like it was going to bite her and its jaw snapped shut with a startling sound.

Goldie got a few feet closer before the deer galloped in her way, looming over her and pawing at the ground with its large hooves. She skidded to a halt, holding out her wand.

"I'll hex you!" she shouted. "I don't care if you're a deer!"

When she tried to get around, the deer lowered its head so the girl was faced with long, branched antlers.

Catlin slowly sat up, rubbing at the immense headache that throbbed throughout her entire skull. She watched the branches above her slowly start to twist and swing. At first she thought it was double vision from an oncoming concussion, but she blinked away stray tears and saw that the branches were actually moving. She watched as they swiveled and wrenched down, cutting through the air.

"Oh my gosh," Goldie realized, watching as the clubbed branches tried to take out whatever had disturbed the trunk. "It's a Whomping Willow." She tried to run around the deer but it kept throwing its head towards her, threatening to impale her with any number of the sharp ends of its antlers. Frustrated, she just shouted over the noise of the groaning tree. "Cat! You have to get out of there!"

Catlin fell back to avoid the tangled vines above and flipped onto her stomach. She tried to army crawl away but she was pushed back by the branches punching through the air. She wasn't nearly fast enough to run out of harm's way before another branch could swoop down and strike her, and there was nothing else she could do. Throwing her hands over her head, she nestled into the grass, hoping someone would get her out of there.

She felt something brush against her arm and looked over. A large rat scurried past and Catlin shrieked, throwing herself back from it. The rat scrambled under the roots and disappeared. The tangled edge of a branch rushed past Catlin, knocking her over and leaving several long stripes across her face. She went to grab her face, but screamed and let go when her fingers knocked against the bridge of her nose. Kneeling over, she let the blood drip down into the grass. It didn't help much and she started to feel lightheaded. She could still hear her friends screaming at her to get away from the tree. Groggily, she tried to stand up but, to her dismay, she was buffeted by another branch that caught her arms and legs and she spiraled down hard, landing on her back. For a moment all sound ceased and everything went black. When she regained her vision, she was staring up at the sky.

Catlin barely noticed that the branches suddenly stopped moving above her, the tree seemingly frozen. All she noticed was that the shaggy black dog had a hold of her coat by the shoulder and was dragging her across the field. She flailed uselessly, too scared to actually fight off the animal. Once they were a safe distance from the tree, the dog let her go. Goldie finally managed to run past the deer while Evelyn ran up to the girl lying sprawled on the ground.

Goldie stuck out her wand and shouted, "Everte Statum!" A burst of orange light shot out of her wand and the dog flew backwards, tumbling along the ground. They took the opportunity to grab Catlin and haul her to her feet, dragging her towards the castle.

Catlin planted her feet down and helped to move along, and soon they were able to jog up the hills, through the trees, and to the castle. Out of breath, they fell onto the stone steps, collecting their thoughts.

"That was the worse idea we've ever had," Evelyn gasped.

"It was terrifying," Goldie agreed. "Why are those animals so _big_?"

"I don't know. Magic?" Catlin wiped blood on her dress. "Too bad that tree wasn't as friendly as that one," she motioned to the curved tree that continued to wave at them in the night breeze.

"Maybe it was," Evelyn said, "and it just got angry because you face planted into it instead of shaking its hand – er, branch."

"I think I may've broken my nose." Catlin reached into her jacket to grab a tissue. Her eyes widened and she searched through all her pockets, patting them down.

"What is it?" Goldie watched as Catlin frantically searched the area around her.

"My wand!"

"What about it?"

"I can't find it!"

"Where would it be?"

"I don't know! I -" Catlin looked over to the distance, the direction they had just come from. "Oh no."

"Wait, seriously?" Evelyn stood beside her. "You dropped it? Back there? Well you're never getting it back."

"What am I supposed to say? A dog ate my wand?" She winced and touched her forehead.

"Maybe we can get it tomorrow," Goldie offered. "Let's get inside. Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?"

"No … I think I'll be okay. If I feel bad tomorrow then I'll see her."

"Come on." Goldie led the two girls inside, cautiously guiding them through the dark corridors, avoiding any teachers doing their rounds.

Far away by the Whomping Willow, the large rat found a wand lying in the grass and picked it up in its teeth, scuttling along after the black dog and impossibly large stag.


	2. The Price of Rule-Breaking

**A/N:** Once again, I took down the first 4 chapters so I could edit and reformat them, now I am uploading them as 10 shorter chapters. I hope that this will make it easier to read.

Don't forget to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you!

* * *

The next morning Goldie sat over Catlin, inspecting the damage done. She looked considerably worse, though Goldie wouldn't outright say that. A series of long cuts ran across her face, her nose was bloodied across the bridge, her eye was swollen, and there were bruises all across her face. Catlin had also showed that the dog had bit through her coat and managed to puncture the skin on her shoulder.

"You need to go to Madam Pomfrey," Goldie said, pushing Catlin's hair out of her face to keep it away from the blood. "What if that dog has rabies or something? And what if you did break your nose?"

"I have a fat lip," Catlin said, delicately touching her mouth. "And a black eye. But I tried to clean the blood off and it hurt too much."

"I'll walk you to the hospital wing." Goldie helped her friend stand and led her through the Hufflepuff House, out into the hallway and towards the hospital wing in the castle. They kept their cloaks closed tight and hats pulled low, shuffling along beside other students who were heading to their classes.

The two girls passed by a group of rowdy Gryffindor boys who were all laughing and jostling each other. Goldie managed to get a look at them and nearly stopped in her tracks. Three of the boys she recognized from the night before. It was the one with the glasses – James, wasn't it? - the one with long hair whose name was something like Sidious or Deciduous, and then a shorter, heavier blonde boy. Quickly turning her gaze away, Goldie hurried past them and towards the hospital wing. She wondered if the boys had seen the animals last night. It didn't matter – she couldn't confront them without admitting they'd also snuck out after dark and she wasn't going to do that.

Goldie brought Catlin inside, guiding her to the Matron who rushed over, pulling the girl's pointed hat off her head.

"What happened?"

"She tripped and fell," Goldie said, saying the first lie she could think of.

Madam Pomfrey took off Catlin's cloak and noticed the bite on her right shoulder. "What's that?"

"A dog bit her," she said, this time not lying. "I think it was a stray."

"Come," Madam Pomfrey said, leading Catlin by the other shoulder. She looked at Goldie, "Thank you for bringing her in. You can go to class now."

"Can't I stay -"

"No, she'll need to rest. There'll be plenty of time to see her once she's better. Go back to your class, please."

Goldie watched as her friend was carted off. Huffing, she turned on her heels and left the hospital wing, carrying Catlin's hat and cloak.

Pomfrey set Catlin down on a bed, cupping her face in her hands and looking at the injuries. "These look old – the blood's dried. How long ago did this happen?"

"N-Not too long ago," she fibbed. "Maybe an hour …?"

"You can be honest with me, dear. It doesn't matter much to me except for treating that bite."

Catlin would've blushed in embarrassment if a lot of her blood wasn't dried on her face. "Last night."

"We'll get you fixed up," Pomfrey said, "then you can get some rest."

* * *

Goldie sat in her Potions class, twirling her quill in her fingers. She was supposed to be taking notes but she couldn't stop thinking about last night. It seemed so surreal and it could've easily been a dream if Catlin's injuries hadn't proven it real. She wondered how Evelyn was doing. She was the only one in their friend group in Slytherin, so she was away from any immediate news about their battered friend.

"Miss Hope," Slughorn said, gaining the attention of the girl. "May I ask why you have an extra robe and hat under your desk?"

She looked down, as if she didn't know they were there. Then, smiling innocently at the teacher, she said, "In case these ones get ruined in class today."

"Oh." He hesitated, thinking it over. He turned back to the rest of the class. "Very good. Perhaps all of you should bring extra robes … in case they're ruined. Of course, if you're doing your Potions correct, there's no reason your robes will be ruined."

Biting her tongue to keep from saying something sassy, and relieved that her lie was so easily accepted, Goldie slipped back into her daydream and wondered just what those boys were doing out that night.

* * *

Evelyn sat in the library, textbook open and parchment half filled with important notes. She was waiting there until Goldie met her there after her Potions class, which was pretty routine – except for the events that happened last night. She scribbled another note about a group of magical aquatic plants. She felt a little guilty because she'd had to cancel two of her tutoring sessions with her housemates since she intended to sneak into the hospital wing to see Catlin. But she'd decided it would be fine if they missed one day and she could make it up later.

A hushed giggle caught her attention. She looked over to see four boys – Gryffindors – huddled around a table, talking hurriedly in low voices. She looked back at her textbook, trying to concentrate.

"What do I do with it?" one boy asked.

"Return it," offered another boy.

"I can't. I don't even know who it belongs to."

"So turn it into a teacher. Say you found it in the halls," came a third voice.

"Right, like they'll believe that. No student just _loses_ their wand inside the castle. They'll think I stole it!"

"What? Stole it and then returned it to a teacher? Sure."

Evelyn's head snapped up and she stared at the boys. It was then that she realized they looked familiar. One boy had messy hair and glasses, one had blonde hair, and the other had shoulder-length hair. A pit formed in her stomach when she remembered _why_ they looked so familiar. They were the boys from last night – plus one other. The last boy had disheveled light brown hair and scars running across his face, over his nose. She hadn't seen him last night but she wondered if he was the one they were looking for. What was his name? Regis? Ronald? Ricky?

But what really concerned her was this conversation about a wand. She was sure it was Catlin's – it had to be. Who else would've lost their wand the same night as her and be conveniently found by the boys they'd seen skulking around?

A chill ran up her arms when it dawned on her that it was possible those boys had seen everything – the Whomping Willow, the stag, the dog … and Goldie's use of magic on an animal.

Before they noticed her looking, she turned her attention to her textbook and hoped Goldie's class would end soon. She didn't want to be alone with these boys any longer than she needed to be.

* * *

After a particularly boring Potions class in which she had to quite literally bite her tongue to keep from receiving several weekends worth of detention for pure sass and backtalk, Goldie met Evelyn in the library. Unfortunately, the boys were still there so she couldn't voice her suspicions, but as she rolled up her parchment she made a subtle gesture towards the group. Out in the hall, she leaned close to Goldie as they walked.

"You saw those boys? They're the ones we saw last night!"

"I know. I saw them this morning when I was taking Cat to Madam Pomfrey."

"I overheard them talking and ..." She paused when a group of first year Ravenclaws walked by. "And I think they have Cat's wand."

"What?" Goldie exclaimed, far too loudly. Several people looked over at them in surprise. Hurrying down the hall, Evelyn continued.

"Yeah, they were trying to figure out what to do with it or who to turn it in to."

"Are they really going to turn it in?"

"No. They didn't want to admit how they found it."

"Good. It would've gotten Cat in trouble too. We have to figure out how to get it back from them. We could ask."

"No! We can't admit to _them_ that we were out there! Even if they already know."

"Do you think they saw us get attacked by those animals? And the tree?"

"Maybe. I guess they didn't want us to know they were out and that's why they didn't help. I mean, we saw them but they don't know we saw them."

"Okay." Goldie paused and they sat on a bench in an alcove of the hall. "Let's figure this out. Those boys - they're Gryffindors right?"

"Yes."

"And you're Slytherin and me and Cat are Hufflepuffs. So there's no way we're getting into the Gryffindor common room. Hmm … We need to steal the wand back, preferably without them knowing."

"We can jump them," Evelyn joked. "Or I distract them and you grab it off of them."

"Yeah, except I don't know who has it."

"The little blonde guy. He's the one who said he found it and didn't know what to do with it."

"Okay, good! So we'll just find out a way to get the wand from him, return it to Cat before she starts her classes and we'll be golden!"

"Sounds like a plan."

Goldie looked down the hall. "I don't have any classes until late. What about you?"

Evelyn shook her head.

"You want to sneak in and see Cat?"

"Of course," Evelyn said. "We can tell her our plan."

The girls stood and headed for the hospital wing, eager to share their news.

* * *

Goldie and Evelyn stood beside the bed, looking down at Catlin. She looked a bit better, though she was still badly bruised and her nose was bandaged.

"How are you doing?" Goldie asked, then changed the question. "What's the prognosis? Are you gonna make it?"

Catlin smiled weakly. "Worse than we thought but better than I hope. Wait … Reverse those. Maybe … I don't know." She took in a deep breath and winced. "When I ran into the tree I broke my nose and fractured some ribs. There's no way to tell if the dog had rabies, so … She's given me tons of potions and now I'm on bed rest until I'm better. At least until I can walk, you know, without passing out from pain. Also, she said I have a concussion – so that's fun."

"At least you're alive," Evelyn said, reaching out and patting her leg. "It could've been worse. You could've been taken out by a tree. That's worse than being stomped to death by a deer."

"Yeah," Catlin agreed, "when I said I was a 'tree hugger' that's not what I meant."

Goldie grinned. "You're fine – you still have a sense of humor. It's once you lose that when all hope is lost."

"So," Evelyn said in a low voice, "we have some important information."

"What?"

The two healthy girls sat on either side of the bed.

"You know how you lost your wand?" Evelyn asked.

"Yeah ..."

"We think we may have found it."

"What? Where?"

"That's the problem," Goldie said, sighing. "You know those boys we saw last night?"

"Yes …?"

"We think they have it."

"Oh great."

"But we're gonna get it back," Evelyn assured her. "We're trying to figure out a way to steal it from them without them noticing."

"Well what house are they in? Maybe one of you can sneak in and -"

"Already thought of it," said Evelyn. "They're in Gryffindor."

Catlin groaned, "So there's no way we're getting in there. Do you have any classes with them?"

"I'm not sure," Goldie said. "We'll keep an eye out. But at least we know who has it!"

"Plus," Evelyn interjected, "I heard them talking and they're trying to figure out who it belongs to so they can return it."

"That's good at least."

"True. Uh-oh … I think we need to go." Goldie pointed down the room. "I think Madam Pomfrey is coming. She won't be happy if we're in here." She stood. "I'm glad you're feeling better. How long do you think you'll be here?"

"She said maybe a week. She just wants my ribs to heal a little before I go to classes – and to make sure I don't work too hard with my concussion. She also said I can't fly for a couple of months!"

"We'll try to visit you again," Evelyn said as she stood. "Do you want us to bring you anything?"

"Snacks," she said, saying the only thing she could think of at the moment.

Evelyn sighed, "Hufflepuffs … If I manage to sneak any snacks out of the kitchen, there may not be any left by the time I get back here."

"Let's go," Goldie said. "We'll see you later."

Catlin gave a short wave as the girls slipped out of the hospital wing. It was a little scary to think that those boys had her wand, but there was really nothing she could do. She half wished she hadn't gone out that night, but at the same time she knew once she was better she'd mark on the map where the Whomping Willow was (which was more than accurately named) and they'd all go out again. They were determined to get inside the Shrieking Shack at least once before they graduated – even if that was still years away – and see these ghosts that everyone talked about. No matter how scary or violent or break-the-rules-to-get-a-glimpse it was, they couldn't help but investigate a good ghost story. At least now she could brag that she got these injuries from ghost hunting. Even if ghosts themselves didn't cause them, she did technically get them on the hunt.

Madam Pomfrey arrived with another bottle of potion and beef and potato pasties. "I got you something from the kitchen," she said, setting the pies on the table beside the bed. "Mostly because this potion is particularly nasty. If you drink it on an empty stomach – well, you won't have much of a stomach afterward. Eat one pie before and one pie after. You should be just fine then."

"Thank you," Catlin said cautiously.

Pomfrey left and Catlin picked up one of the meat pies. Eying the bottle of potion warily, she took a bite of the pie. Was this worth it? Was a broken nose, fractured ribs, a black eye, busted lip, concussion, and several months of recovery – not to mention the possibility of detention or being expelled – worth getting a slight glimpse of a ghost that _wasn't_ benevolently haunting the castle halls? She took another bite and smiled even though it hurt her nose.

Yes, it was. It was very worth it.


	3. The Rivalry

**A/N:** I have taken the first original 4 chapters down, edited them, reformatted them, and I am now reposting them at 10 shorter chapters.

Please remember to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you!

* * *

The hospital wing wasn't too bad – Catlin got food, hot tea, and didn't really have to worry about classes or homework. (At least not yet – she wasn't entirely sure if she'd have to make up missed days or not.) Still, Madam Pomfrey was nice enough, although she forbade anyone visiting. It was only a few hours after she had been admitted to the hospital wing when someone else arrived, though this one was unassisted by friends. Catlin was pretending to be asleep so she didn't have to make small talk with the new patient, but when Madam Pomfrey greeted them, she opened one eyes to sneak a peek at who it was.

She nearly jumped up when she saw who it was – the same long-haired boy from the night before! He had a nasty black eye which he attributed to a stray Bludger from Quidditch practice. His other wounds – another long bruise along his ribs and a sprained ankle – were also said to be the result of falling off his broom _after_ he was hit in the face with a Bludger. Pomfrey didn't doubt him, but it didn't really sound like she believed him either.

"You always manage to get so beat up this time of the month," she mused as she bandaged him. "It's almost as if you went up against a Whomping Willow." There was a hint of knowing in her voice and Catlin blushed for him, knowing that he had been outside the night before – the same night she had gotten her own injuries _from the Whomping Willow._

"Must be a clumsy time for me," he said without skipping a beat. "I think it has to do with the full moon. It makes me act a bit funny. A little loony, you see."

"I'm sure that it's just that," Pomfrey said as she ushered the man towards the door. "Now get out and get back to class."

" _Class_?" he asked incredulously. "With _these_ injuries? Madam Pomfrey, you can't expect me to hobble to class and concentrate when I've just plummeted out of the sky and harmed myself!"

"Yes I do, Mister Black. You have missed far too many classes already, according to your teachers. Your ankle isn't too bad for you to stay here. Just keep weight off of it and you'll be fine."

"You want me to _hop_? Like a rabbit? Madam Pomfrey, please. I'm not … I'm not an _animal_."

Catlin thought she could hear him almost laugh at the comment, but Pomfrey was unfazed.

"Get back to class, Mister Black."

He huffed and turned, starting for the door. With every other step he let out a dramatic, pained cry and looked over his shoulder at the nurse who had no sympathy for him. He hobbled over towards the door, gave a final, pathetic look at Pomfrey, then grumbled something under his breath and left. Pomfrey rolled her eyes and stopped by Catlin's bed to check on her.

"Who was that?" she asked quietly, acting as if his cries had woken her from a peaceful sleep.

"That? It was Sirius Black. He's a bit older than you – in Gryffindor house. A bit of a troublemaker, if you ask me."

"I thought … I thought you didn't let students leave here until they're completely healed."

"I don't, normally." She picked up an empty mug from the bedside table. "But he is in here quite often with such injuries, and they aren't life threatening. A few days and all the bruises will disappear. And he can walk just fine, even with a sprained ankle. I think he tried to use anything to get out of class. A few teachers have told me to send him right back on out if he comes in complaining about anything other than massive internal bleeding or a nearly decapitated head. He's missed a lot of school this year. In any case, it's nothing like when I have to keep him out when his friend is here. What a trouble that is!"

"His friend?"

Pomfrey smiled and patted Catlin's head. "Don't worry about it, dear. You'll be out of here before long." She departed, leaving Catlin alone with her thoughts.

His friend? As far as she knew, he had two – the one with the glasses and the short, blonde one. She couldn't imagine why either of them would be in the hospital wing often enough for Pomfrey to comment on Sirius being a pain to keep out. There was that other one that they had been looking for that night, but she hadn't ever seen him. Perhaps that's where he had been last night – in the hospital wing.

Settling back into her pillows, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, doing the only thing she could do to pass the time while in recovery.

* * *

Goldie sat in her History of Magic class, bored out of her mind. She really liked magic, and she really liked history, but the history of magic was just _awful_. Of course it was important, but it was just so boring. The only good thing about the class was the boy who sat one row ahead and two seats to the right of her, the raven-haired Slytherin boy named Jake DeLeon. He was a year older than her, and he didn't say much to her, but it didn't really matter. There was just something about him. Probably because he was one of the few Slytherins who didn't try to live up to their rumors of evil, and was actually a decent guy.

She casually glanced around the room when she stretched, looking for the mysterious Gryffindor boys who had her friend's wand. Every seat was filled and not a single classmate was one of the boys. Sighing, she slumped forward with her chin in her hands and scanned over the notes on the board. This was even worse than Potions, which she only hated because she didn't get along with Good Ol' Sluggy. She was startled when the teacher, Professor Uggeri, pointed a spindly, white finger at her and shouted:

"Miss Hope! What was the name of the founder who is believed to have made the Room of Requirement?"

Temporarily stunned, she stared blankly at the impossibly thin teacher who eyed her closely. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She actually did know the answer (though she and most of her classmates had never seen the room themselves), but she was drawing a blank, having been scared half to death by being called on out of the blue.

An unkind snicker rippled around the room from behind her. She cast a look over her shoulder at the girl who had started laughing first. Bernice Broderick, a pasty girl with a face perpetually pinched in either a scowl or a sneer and dirty blonde hair that was always pulled back into a tight pony, smirked back at Goldie. Bernice really had no reason to dislike Goldie – she generally disliked everybody, and made a point of saying so. The only people she got along with were her small group of listless followers – an equally snobby brunette who was long past the hope braces brought; a tiny platinum blonde girl who was always trying to push kids over and ended up falling over herself (resulting in lots of bruises, scabby knees, and raw elbows); and a round girl who waddled rather than walked and whose face looked as if she had sucked on a lemon and it was trying to twist into itself to disappear. None of their features were bad in themselves – what was really ugly was their personalities, and that they thought they were better than literally every other student at the school. It didn't even have to do with blood purity – as half of them were Muggle-born and the others were half-bloods. They were just snobby, selfish, bratty children and their leader had singled out Goldie because of a potential threat.

Jake DeLeon.

It was no secret Bernice liked Jake. She made it very plain to everyone around her. Often threatening other girls to not "even look at him", and saying that if they dared to speak to him they would have to deal with the "wrath" of her lackeys. Not that it was much of a threat, but it was rather annoying to be minding your own business and have Bernice and her gang pop up out of nowhere to berate you in shrill voices about "looking at Jake when you were taking notes, and you _know_ that's not allowed because _only my eyes are ALLOWED TO LOOK AT HIM!_ "

Goldie was a threat because she didn't just dare to look at Jake, she dared to talk to him and even share notes with him after class. They had even planned a study date for the end of the week (which, she mused, she may have to cancel if she still hadn't gotten Catlin's wand back by then) which made Bernice anything but happy.

Goldie's crush wasn't even very obvious – she was just kind and friendly, and apparently that was a mortal sin to Bernice and her posse. Bernice scrunched up her tiny, pinchy face and sneered at Goldie from a few rows back.

"Do you know the answer, you big dummy?"

Unaffected by the rather childish question, Goldie turned back to Professor Uggeri and his deep, sunken eyes, who looked a bit like he had lived through the thousands of years of history he was teaching. "Sorry," she said. "I can't think of it right now."

"HA!" Bernice shouted, "What a big, ol' dummy! She doesn't even know who made the Room of Requirement!"

Uggeri turned to Bernice, "And do you know it, Miss Broderick?"

It seemed impossible that her face could get more pinchy or her sneer wider, but it did. How she managed that was always a surprise to Goldie, and she half wondered if there was a Sneering Spell to make your face contort into such an ugly, mean look. She would have said that Bernice invented it herself, but she knew that the blonde wasn't patient enough to do that.

"Of course I do!" She turned her sneer to Goldie then back to Uggeri. "Everybody knows it was Phyus Bracklewort!"

Uggeri blinked, as if he were surprised. He wasn't sure _why_ he was surprised. He also didn't know why he thought Bernice would actually know the answer since she spent all her time screaming at other students rather than reading the textbook.

"No," he said, his voice low and steady. "Phyus Bracklewort did _not_ create the Room of Requirement. He's not even a founder of Hogwarts."

For a moment, Bernice's sneer fell and was replaced by a heated glare, her eyebrows pulled in so tightly and her brow so furrowed, it was unnatural. She pulled her lips back into a deep frown and gritted her teeth.

"Mister DeLeon," Uggeri said, avoiding the oncoming storm of insults to his intelligence and knowledge of magical history, "do _you_ know who it was?"

"Helga Hufflepuff," he said coolly, his voice soft.

Goldie's heart skipped a beat when she heard him say _Hufflepuff._ He had said her house name – it sounded so nice and not entirely ridiculous when he said it.

"Very good," Uggeri said, his voice steady. Still, it sounded as if he were relieved somebody in his class had paid attention. "Now, please turn to page 212, and begin reading silently to yourselves..."

Jake looked back at Goldie and gave her a sympathetic smile. She felt her cheeks redden and she smiled back, tucking strands of curls behind her ears. Jake turned around and opened his textbook. Goldie heard a huff behind her and when she turned, Bernice was glaring daggers in her direction. Her face was so red and the scowl was so deeply etched into her face, Goldie half hoped it would freeze like that – if only for the day. It would have made a perfectly frightful Halloween costume.

A bit proud and not at all embarrassed for not knowing the answer she _should_ have (considering it was _her_ house founder who had, according to tradition anyway, made the Room of Requirement), she gave a quick smirk of her own towards Bernice. The blonde's eyes shot open wide and her mouth dropped, like a fish gasping for air. She was speechless. Had somebody just dared to defy _her_?

A little bit more proud, Goldie turned back around, grinning to herself, and flipped open her textbook.


	4. Dropping Names

**A/N:** I took the first 4 chapters and reformatted them so they were 10 shorter chapters. After chapter 10, I will start uploading new content!

Please remember to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you!

* * *

Evelyn was enjoying the Care of Magical Creatures class, which was currently standing outside in the school yard, just outside of the Forbidden Forest. They were being introduced to some of the more benevolent creatures that lived in the Forest (they had already been warned to _"STAY OUT!"_ of the Forest because, "You know, there are werewolves in there, and they'll rip you clean apart given half the chance! When the full moon comes around, they couldn't tell their best friend from their next meal, so don't go messing about out here. _And don't leave your dorms after dark"_ ).

She was standing among the students who shuffled uneasily as the professor hobbled towards a wicker basket sitting on the ground. He motioned for the group to get closer, but few dared to do so. Evelyn was one of the handful who stepped forward and the professor lifted open the top of the wicker basket to reveal three small, blue-bodied creatures coiled up around themselves. They looked up into the light and squawked, nipping the air with their beaks.

"These," said Professor Kettleburn, "are Occamies. Their shells are made of pure silver and are very valuable. They guard their eggs very closely, so please don't try to steal them. You will get bit, and it won't be pleasant." He subconsciously rubbed his thumb against his bandaged index finger. "Does anyone know a trait of two about the Occamy?" He looked around at the group, which had slowly started to come forward to look at the curious snake-like birds.

Evelyn knew almost everything there was about the Occamy, and pretty much every other magical beast there was. She had pored over her favorite textbook _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ at least a dozen times just for fun, and had memorized all there was to learn about each and every creature. Professor Kettleburn knew this, as he had been so proud to have such an enthusiastic student in his class for once, the year before. Evelyn was currently in her second year of Care of Magical Creatures because she loved it so much, and she was also using her free time to act as a sort of guide and teacher's assistant for the third years. Not to mention it didn't hurt that she was there, considering Kettleburn only had one arm and half a leg.

"Miss Keats," Kettleburn said, knowing that she was the only one willing to speak up. Third years were just too self-conscious to volunteer any answers. "Can you tell us something about the Occamy?"

"Of course," she piped up, excited. "The Occamy naturally fills the space it is around. If it is released into a large space, then it will grow to fit. If it is in a small area, it will shrink. This is why in order to keep control of them, you must keep them inside small containers, usually with their siblings – as they won't expand to fill the space if there is more than one in the same area."

"Very good," Kettleburn said, beaming. "Now, each of you will get the chance to hold an Occamy – with my assistance, of course. And Miss Keats will be helping you as well. Please – _Please_ – do not release them. If you do, we will never get them back. And I stress that you don't put your fingers near their beaks." He turned and picked up one of the slithering blue bodies and turned around, "Alright. Who's first?"

Evelyn stood back to get a good look at the group. None of the Gryffindor boys were in the class. Scanning each face carefully just to make sure, she moved to the wicker basket and picked up one of the creatures gently, stroking its back and letting it roll around in her hands. A timid boy with braces and an uneven haircut, approached her. He held out his hands, which were shaking, and said, "Okay. I'm ready."

Evelyn started to hand the Occamy over when he drew his hands back and nearly dropped the creature. Catching it quickly, Evelyn gave a huff of surprise and cupped the Occamy against herself.

"Here," she said, "why don't you just pet it? Then when you're comfortable enough you can hold it."

"Th-Thanks," he said, lisping. He ran his hand along the back of the Occamy and down to its tail. It raised its head and looked at the boy, blinking its huge eyes and squawking again. He jumped and pulled his hands back.

"It's okay," Evelyn said, stroking the beast. "It won't hurt you … Er, I mean, as long as you don't put your fingers in its mouth."

"Sorry," he muttered, his face flushing hot. "Professor Kettleburn made me really nervous. I don't want to lose my fingers … And I don't want it to think I'm trying to steal its eggs."

"You'll be fine," Evelyn said. "Cup your hands together."

The boy did as she said, and she slowly transferred the ruffling snake-bird into his awaiting palms. It coiled up and wrapped its tail around the boy's wrist. It turned two huge, gleaming eyes towards him, snapped at the air, then settled back down in a pile. He let out a relieved laugh and looked up at Evelyn, grinning.

"I – I did it!"

Professor Kettleburn went through five students who had the Occamy dumped in their hands, held it for all of thirty seconds, then moved off to the side to let another student have a go. Each approaching student was getting more and more nervous as they watched Kettleburn handle the Occamy and practically throw it at the other kids. They wondered just how he had lost his limbs, and just how practical his heavy, wooden prosthetics were. Evelyn finally took her Occamy back from the boy and gave him a proud smile.

"Very good," she said. "I think you'll be really great with animals like this one day."

"Really?" he gasped, his eyes wide. "I – That's what I want to do! I want to be a magizoologist, like – like Newt Scamander! He wrote our textbook!"

"I know," Evelyn nodded, smiling. "I have a signed copy of his book."

The boy gaped. "How did you get _that_?"

She motioned towards Kettleburn. "When I was your age, last year, Professor Kettleburn took me to Hogsmeade because Newt Scamander was doing some work there, and I got to meet him. He signed my copy of his book, too."

"What's he like?" the boy asked, clasping his hands together. "Is he nice?"

"He's the nicest person I've ever met," Evelyn said. "He even talked to me about all the beasts he's encountered, and he said he's even met a Thunderbird! Which," she explained, setting her Occamy back into the basket, "is the name of one of the houses at Ilvermorny."

The boy looked confused. "What is that?"

"It's the American school of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she explained. "I could have gone there if my parents had stayed in America, but I moved here when I was young."

"You're American?"

"Yes," she said.

"But you don't have an accent!"

She kind of laughed and wiped her hands on her slacks. "I've lived here for a while."

He looked at her green and black tie and his eyes widened. "You're a Slytherin?" He swallowed hard and he looked back at his classmates who had nearly finished with handling their Occamies. "But why are you so nice? I've heard that Slytherins are … well, people say that if you're in Slytherin, then you're bound to turn out evil!"

"That's a lot of hogwash," Evelyn said quickly and a bit defensively. "Slytherin is just like any of the other houses. There are nice people, and there are some not-so-nice people. Just because somebody is from a certain house doesn't mean that they're bound to be anything other than themselves. Do you think I'm bound to turn out evil?"

"No," he said quietly. "But I … I'm a Ravenclaw and people always say that we're supposed to be really smart … But I'm not. I study all the time and I still don't do very well."

"That's alright," she said. "A school test doesn't measure your passion or your courage, you know. It seems that you're really passionate about magical creatures."

"But I'm not brave either!"

She laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, it doesn't matter if you're good at school or not. If you've found something you love, then you should do it. I'm absolutely awful at Divination, but that doesn't mean I'm a bad student. I have friends who are failing most of their classes – but they're still very good people, and I know they're going to go on and do something great with their lives. You know Newt Scamander was actually expelled from Hogwarts?"

The boy was flabbergasted.

"It's true," Evelyn continued. "He was kicked out of this very school! And yet he is one of the best magizoologist in the entire wizard world, _and_ you're reading _his textbook_. If someone like him can go on to do something like that, then you're going to be just fine."

He smiled up at her, his braces shining in the sunlight. "Thank you!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her and giving her a tight hug. "You're the nicest Slytherin I've ever met!"

She returned the hug. "You're going to be a great magizoologist," she said. "Just don't give up."

Professor Kettleburn announced that the class was over and that he would be returning the Occamies to the school grounds (and he made a very stern warning that any student who had managed to steal some of the silver eggshells without him noticing would be in _very big trouble_ , to which three boys shifted uncomfortably on their feet and looked at each other while patting down their robes). The students filed back into the castle and she followed, a blue Occamy feather stuck in the hem of her V-neck sweater.

She walked along the covered outside walkway, plucking the feather from her sweater and sticking it into her trouser pocket. When she looked up, there was the same short, blonde boy standing in the walkway, looking out through one of the archways down to the school grounds. As she got closer she could hear him shouting something down towards the ground. She peered out the archway she was next to and saw the boy with shoulder-length hair standing in the grass, bruises and bandages all over his face and arm. He favored one leg, limping as he came a bit closer to the walkway.

"Get out here, Wormtail!" he shouted, waving at the blonde. "Pomfrey wouldn't let me stay in the hospital wing – even though I'm severely injured. We have to meet with Prongs and Moony to see what to do about the you-know-what that we found!"

The blonde boy sighed and nodded. "Fine, fine. But I don't want to get in trouble because I found -" He stopped and looked over when he heard footsteps. His face paled when he saw Evelyn standing there. Not because she'd overheard (okay, that was one reason), but because he recognized her from the night he found the wand. He was sure the wand belonged to one of the girls – was it her? He didn't care to find out. Before he could do anything, Evelyn strode towards him, her face set in a stern, determined look and she stopped just short of him. Sticking out her hand and overcome with adrenaline and anxiety, she shouted:

"GIVE ME THAT WAND!"

Subtle.

To her surprise, instead of handing over the wand – which he had suspected was hers – he jumped onto the small wall, out through the archway, and tumbled into the grass. The other boy looked up at Evelyn and couldn't help but cackle.

"Did you just -" he wheezed, doubling over and planting his hands on his knees to keep himself steady, "Did you just _jump down here to get away from her_? She – She -" He continued laughing.

"She scared me -"

"She _asked_ for the wand! She knows we have it! Why didn't you just give it to her?"

"What if it's not hers? What if she's spying for a professor and it's a test? What if I get in trouble!" The blonde took off running, tripping over himself, leaving his friend behind. The brunette looked up toward Evelyn and grinned from ear to ear.

"Sorry, little lady," he cheered, giving a grand, sweeping bow and then exclaiming in pain when he put too much weight on his sprained ankle. He stood up and gave a short wave. "Looks like you'll have to get that wand back another time." Then he took off clumsily after his friend, limping along as fast as he could. Evelyn stared in shock after the two boys. She couldn't even comprehend what had just happened. A bit defeated but mostly confused, Evelyn continued on to her next class, but her mind was still trying to process the previous events.

* * *

It was after lunch when Evelyn met the two boys she was tutoring in the library. She greeted them warmly, having already pulled out the necessary books for studying. They were both in Slytherin house, and both were exceptional students – mostly in the Dark Arts, but she had noticed they were struggling in a few other courses. She'd been more than happy to help them study, and met with them fairly regularly during the week to go over notes and questions.

The younger boy, Regulus, sat across from Evelyn, while the other boy, Severus, sat to her right. They were both happy to have someone who was willing to tutor them in their courses.

Evelyn started with the largest book, which was about Potions, a subject that Regulus had struggled with most. Severus was quite adept with potion-making and had even improved some of Slughorn's own concoctions. They would both help the younger boy with measuring, combination, cooking times, and collecting.

They were halfway through Evelyn's notes on shrivelfigs when the doors were pushed open and a group of boys came in. Evelyn didn't bother looking up, as she was concentrating hard on making sure Regulus was taking down the correct measurements for a Shrinking Potion, which would prove deadly if made incorrectly. She was focusing so much on the notes that she didn't notice that the boys had approached her table. She finally realized they had joined her study group when one boy – the long-haired brunette she saw only a few hours earlier – plopped down into the seat next to Regulus, folded his hands, and grinned at Evelyn.

"Hello, love," he said.

Her head snapped up and she looked at the boy, surprised.

"What -? What are you doing here?"

"The library is open to everyone," he said. "What are you doing here with my brother?"

"Brother?" Confused, she looked at the boy next to him, who she realized did have a remarkable resemblance. They both had long, slicked back black hair, a straight nose, and grey eyes. Even more confused, she looked at Regulus and exclaimed, "This is your _brother_?"

"Why?" the older one asked, grinning again. "Didn't realize there was a more attractive one you could be hanging out with?"

"I – I -" she stuttered, feeling just the slightest blush creep up her face. Yes, she had to admit that he _was_ attractive. But he was also one of the boys – the other three were still standing around the table – who had taken her friend's wand! She planted her hands firmly on the table top. "I'm a tutor, and I'm helping them."

"Ah, Snivellus needs help? Poor thing," the boy with the glasses said, though his tone was thick with sarcasm.

Evelyn spun around in her seat to lock eyes with the boy. "What did you just call him?"

"What? Are you a Snivellus sympathizer?" He noticed her tie and scoffed. "Figures. Another Slytherin. I should've guessed. You smell like you've been hiding out in your common room all day."

Evelyn's face burned red, but not from embarrassment – out of anger.

"Careful what you say," she warned, her voice steady and her eyes narrowed. "You think you have so much power and influence because you're a Gryffindor, and because you mock people you think are below you. If you don't watch that mouth of yours, somebody may just decide they've had enough of your bullying. I guarantee you the same people you call friends will end up being your biggest enemy."

He scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. "What are you going to do? You're no scarier than _Peter_ ," he almost spat out the word as he gestured towards the blonde boy standing to his right. "And he's just about as harmless as they come."

Before she could say anything else, she felt a hand on her arm. When she turned, Regulus was looking at her, silently pleading. She looked at Severus and he too was watching her closely, though she could tell that there was embarrassment and hate hidden in his expression. Deciding she didn't want to waste her time with the boy, she turned back around and looked at Regulus's brother.

"What's your name, anyway?" she asked, a bit short.

"Sirius," he said. The humor had gone out of his voice and his eyes were serious. He looked back at the obvious leader of their group, then looked away, as if he were ashamed. "We're leaving," he said as he stood. The boy with the glasses turned and headed out of the library first, followed by Peter. It was now just Sirius, and the scarred boy who loitered around the end of the table awkwardly.

Sirius glanced at Severus, then at his brother who had gone back to taking notes. He pulled out a piece of parchment from his robes and slid it across the table to Evelyn who took it, cautious.

"Go here," he said in a low voice, "tonight. Remus," he motioned to the boy standing beside him, "and I will be there. We'll meet you with … you-know-what." He paused. "It's not yours, is it?"

"No. It's my friend's."

"Oh. Is she the one in the hospital wing?"

"Yes – how do you know?"

He shook his head, brushing off the question. "Just meet us here." He stood, scooting the chair back into place. He gave a sad smile towards his brother, who paid no heed to him, then gave an equally sad smile to Evelyn. "Tell your friend I'm sorry … And that the bite shouldn't get infected."

Turning on his heels, Sirius strode out of the library, Remus following close behind. Evelyn stared after them in stunned silence. So they _had_ seen the animals attacking them that night! But how did he know the bite wouldn't get infected? Was it his dog? Or was it a guard dog stationed at the Whomping Willow by one of the professors?

"What were they talking about?"

Evelyn looked back at Severus who was thumbing through a textbook. "What is 'you-know-what'?"

"Oh." She hesitated, unsure of what to say. Finally she just smiled and lied, "The apothecary in Hogsmeade was having a sale on snake fangs and porcupine quills, and I needed a few to go over some actual potions with Regulus later this week. I couldn't get into Hogsmeade, but somebody I know said that they could find someone to buy it for me. I guess that was him …"

Severus huffed and flipped open his own textbook. "I hope he won't be hanging around very often. He's a prat."

Regulus cast a sorrowful glance towards Severus, who didn't notice.

"All those Gryffindors are," Severus muttered. "There's not a single good one."

Evelyn said nothing, but turned back to her parchment lined with neat notes. _That's exactly what they think about us_ , she realized. _There's not a single good Slytherin_.


	5. A Scheduled Meeting

**A/N:** I have taken the first 4 chapters and reformatted them into 10 shorter chapters. AFTER CHAPTER 10 I WILL UPLOAD NEW CONTENT.

Please don't forget to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you!

* * *

After finishing up the tutoring session in the library, Evelyn got around to reading the parchment. It said, _Midnight – Whomping Willow – come alone! xx Padfoot and Moony_

She didn't quite understand the names – though she did recall hearing them before. She'd heard something along the lines of "Padfoot" the night they'd snuck out and Catlin got fairly whomped by the willow, and she had just heard "Moony" just that morning, when Peter had leapt through the archway down to the grass where Sirius was.

Were those their nicknames for each other? It was a bit strange. What did "Padfoot" even mean? Moony was a bit more "normal", but it was still a bit mysterious.

Anyway, she decided she definitely _wasn't_ going to go alone. She waited in the library until Goldie showed up, then she showed her the note.

"Wait, so this is from two of those guys?" Goldie asked, reading the note over again. "And you said that they want to give the wand back?"

"These two do, I guess," Evelyn said, a bit skeptical.

"You're not really going alone are you?"

"No! You're going with me."

"Too bad Catlin can't go. She'd sneak out if she could, but Pomfrey has eyes like a hawk. She notices if one hair is out of place; I'm sure she'd notice if one of her patients was gone."

Evelyn pulled out a carefully wrapped slice of Bakewell tart she'd smuggled out of lunch. "This'll give us an excuse to see Catlin. We can let her know what we're up to before we actually go. That way she doesn't feel left out."

"Good idea," Goldie said.

The girls headed for the hospital wing, Bakewell tart and mysterious note tucked safely away in Evelyn's robes. They slipped into the room unnoticed, Pomfrey nowhere to be seen, and sat on either side of the bed.

"Look at this note," Evelyn said, pulling it out of her pocket and handing it to her injured friend. She took it and read it over, though it was hard to read since her one good eye was bleary with fatigue and pain, and her other had swollen shut in the past few hours. But she managed to make out the scribbled handwriting and its message.

"What's a Padfoot?"

"I think it's Sirius's nickname," Evelyn said, then quickly added, "Sirius is the one with the long black hair that we saw that night. I couldn't believe it – guess what? I tutor his brother! Regulus Black!"

"Oh," Catlin said, realizing. "I should've known. They look so similar. Then who's Moony?"

"Their friend, Remus," the redhead replied. "They both want to meet me tonight to give you back your wand. It's like they don't want their friends involved, though … I mean, Sirius _apologized_."

"For what?"

"I don't really know. He just told me to tell you that he was sorry, and that your bite," she motioned to Catlin's bandaged shoulder, "wouldn't get infected. So we know that he saw us get attacked."

"Well, he came in earlier today – complaining about a sprained ankle. He may've seen my shoulder."

"But did he know it was a dog bite? And that you were worried it'd get infected?"

"No …"

"See? He _must've_ seen us!"

"Oh no," Goldie said, "what if it's a trap? What if Sirius and Remus saw us and now they want to meet with you as a form of blackmail?"

"If you go with me it'll be two on two," Evelyn said coolly, "we can take them."

Catlin handed back the note. "How did you find them exactly? Were they in your classes?"

"No," Goldie said. "Apparently they just showed up in the library and harassed Evelyn."

"It was Severus they harassed," she said bitterly. "And it was mostly that kid with the glasses ..."

"James," Goldie said. "I think I remember that one."

"So you're really going to meet with them?" Catlin asked.

"Yep," said Evelyn. "No way to get your wand back except to go see what they want. Don't worry about us, we can definitely take them. The one has a sprained ankle and the other looks like he'd go catatonic if anybody so much as gave him a dirty look."

"Just be careful, both of you. Don't get caught. And make sure to bring your own wands, you know … just in case."

Goldie smiled gently at her friend. She was such a mom sometimes. "Seriously, don't worry about us! We'll be just fine. We're gonna go out there and get your wand back!"

They looked up to see Pomfrey was headed towards them. When she spotted the girls she gave a loud huff and pointed a finger at them.

"No visitors!"

Leaping to their feet, the girls ran towards the door.

"See ya later, Cat!" Evelyn shouted over her shoulder. She followed Goldie out of the hospital wing and down the hall. Pomfrey gave a disapproving look to Catlin who shrugged her shoulders, though it hurt.

"It's not like I can stop them," she said. "I'm bedridden."

Shaking her head, Madam Pomfrey set down another mug of tea for the girl and chastised her. "Don't let them come in here and stay. If you're feeling ill, tell them to go. They have no place here. You're no good to them sick, you know."

"I know," she said a bit sadly. "I'm no good to them at all while I'm in here."

"So you better rest up and get better soon, so they're not out there having fun by themselves. Did they bring you that tart? I swear, with all the treats your friends sneak in … This is the last one I'll allow, but after this it's no more. Too many sweets and you'll be stuck here with a stomach ache."

"I'll make sure not to eat too many desserts," Catlin said innocently. "I don't want to have to stay here any longer than I have to."

* * *

Just before midnight, Evelyn slipped out of the Slytherin house and walked along the lake towards the castle. It was a long walk from the lake, but Evelyn wasn't as lonely with the light from her wand and her familiar, the small white Westie that ran alongside her. He stopped to sniff low-growing bushes and patches of tall grass. She called to him quietly and he followed along close to her heels.

In the distance she could see the pale light from Goldie's wand, and soon it started bobbing around as Goldie headed her way. They met halfway and turned towards the Whomping Willow.

Albert, the Westie, stopped every now and again to take in all the smells in the trees. He snorted and shook his head when he got a deep sniff of something strong and pungent.

"Come on, Albert," Evelyn said, whistling softly. He kicked up a pile of leaves and trotted off through the trunks of the looming trees. The two girls broke out into the clearing that led up to the Whomping Willow. Some distance in front of the tree were two tall figures, neither of which were using their wands for light.

Albert caught the scent of the two men by the tree and took off running, letting out short, gruff barks. Neither of the girls were too worried, knowing that his bark was far worse than his bite. They were only slightly concerned that he would end up alerting somebody to their position.

The dog stopped just as he collided with the leg of the taller man, sniffing around his feet and up his slacks. He ceased his barking and went to sniff around the other boy, Sirius. Evelyn called him back, but he refused to move from the two men who stooped to place heavy-handed, thumping pats on his head.

"Is this your dog?" Sirius asked, looking up at Evelyn. "How did you manage to sneak him into school?"

"I didn't," she said as she approached. "He's my familiar. Dumbledore made accommodations so that I could bring him."

"Lucky," Sirius scoffed as he stood. "You know, I have a dog too. Maybe you and him can have a play date." He winked, but it was lost in the darkness.

"Yeah, I know," Evelyn said, squatting down to coax her dog back. "It attacked my friend."

Remus looked at Sirius who stammered out a reply.

"I – I didn't mean for that to – I didn't know I – he – bit through … Uhm … he was just trying to get her away from the tree."

"What were you doing out here anyway?" Goldie asked, muttering "Nox" under her breath and letting the light at the end of her wand go out. Evelyn did the same and they were left with the moonlight.

"Who said we were even out here?" Sirius shot back quickly, realizing the girls hadn't mentioned seeing them at all – just the dog.

"We saw you," Goldie said. "Just outside the castle. It was you, your little blonde friend Peter, and the other one – James?" She turned to the looming boy with scars. "We didn't see you though. You're Remus?"

"Yes," he said. He didn't offer anything else.

"Your friends were looking for you," Goldie said flatly.

Evelyn patted Albert's head before standing up. "So – where is it?"

"Where's what?" Sirius asked, and he seemed genuinely confused.

"The wand."

"Oh! That! Right, well … you see, I was _going_ to bring it but then I had another idea."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" asked Goldie, her eyebrows knitting together. "You didn't bring the wand?"

Sirius grinned and his eyes gleamed mischievously. "We think that you two and your friend owe us, you know, for saving her life and all."

Remus's head snapped towards his friend and he gave him a confused look.

" _What_?" Goldie asked, her eyes widening in disbelief. "You're holding it hostage?"

"You were right," Evelyn groaned. "It is blackmail."

"It's _Black_ mail," Sirius said, though the pun went largely unnoticed and totally unappreciated.

"What do you want?" Goldie asked. "Money? It's not like we have that much."

"What? No," Sirius scoffed. "We don't need any money. We had something else in mind."

Evelyn turned to Remus, a bit surprised that he was a part of the scheme. "Did you know about this? You looked like somebody we could've trusted!"

Remus stepped back and threw up his hands, looking over at Sirius. "Just give them the wand," he said quietly. He turned to the girls, "We don't need anything. We just came here to return the wand, and to ask you to give our regards – and Sirius's apology – to your friend. What's her name?"

"So you _do_ have the wand?" Evelyn asked, now thoroughly confused. "And it's Catlin."

"Yes we do need something," Sirius said, "no we don't have the wand, and your friend Cat is -"

"It's _Catlin_ to you," Goldie said. "Only friends can call her Cat."

"Great, it's like we're besties already. Cat is going to be fine. We just need you two to do some things for us."

"Or what? You're going to rat us out?" Goldie asked. "You can't out us without getting yourself in trouble."

"Oh, we're not going to tell on you," Sirius laughed. "We just have a few requests. First, you," he pointed at Evelyn, "you tutor my brother, right?"

"Yeah ..."

"So, do you just help him or do his homework for him?"

"I just help him study."

"Oh," Sirius sounded disappointed. "It doesn't matter. I want you to actually _do_ my homework for a week – no! The next month! And I want you to take my exams for me. No point in getting good marks on homework if I fail the tests."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Evelyn scoffed. "I don't look anything like you!"

"Aren't you supposed to be really good at potions? I'm surprised you haven't heard of a little thing called the Polyjuice Potion."

"I have," the redhead muttered. "But I'm – I'm not going to do that. What if I get caught making it? Besides, it takes an entire month to brew. And there's a lot of ingredients involved … I can't just steal them, and I can't buy them -"

"Don't worry about any of that," Sirius said. "We will get you what you need. You just need to take my place in all my final exams for this year." He pointed at Goldie. "And you … Hmm, what can you do? Are you any good at writing?"

"I'm fair," she said, unwilling to do anything for the boy.

"Good. You can do my essay writing. She – What _is_ your name? I didn't catch it."

"It's Evelyn."

"And you?"

"Goldie."

"Wonderful. So you, Goldie, can do my essays so that Evelyn can concentrate on the Polyjuice potion. It'll take a lot of time and effort and I don't want her messing it up. It'd be awful if she got halfway through my exams and suddenly turned back into herself. Or something else." He paused then turned to the other girl. "Come to think of it, my classes are all throughout the day. You should probably brew a couple of the potions to be on the safe side." Then, turning to Remus, he asked, "Was there anything you needed?"

"No," he said.

"You sure? 'Cause you can have your homework done, too."

"I'm fine," Remus said, raising his voice a little. "I actually can get my homework done on my own."

"Alright. I guess we do have them for the entire month, so if you change your mind, just let me know." Sirius looked at the two girls and grinned, clapping his hands together. "Great! So I have my homework and essays – and exams – covered for the entire month, which isn't much but it should help me end this school year pretty well. And don't worry – I won't make Cat do anything. It is partially my fault that she's injured … but it's also because of me that she's still alive, so you can all thank me with a grand gesture at the end of the year before we all leave for the summer. You don't have to tell me what it is, but don't feel the need to be humble. You should also get my friend Remus here something nice – maybe some chocolate. You," he pointed at Goldie, "are in Hufflepuff? Your house is beside the kitchen. You can sneak in and get something – he really likes sachertorte, and I know that the house elves were making some. Oh, maybe you can throw a party for us – but not during the Leaving Feast. Maybe the day before then."

"Well when are you going to give us the wand back?" Evelyn asked.

"Hmm ..." Sirius thought it over and looked up at the sky, the moon gleaming. He then looked back at his friend Remus who was slouched, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Albert ran around his legs, sniffing at his heels and let out one sharp bark at him. "I have to guarantee that you'll do as I asked, so … I'll give it back to you when we are boarding the train to go back home."

" _What_?" Goldie exclaimed. "You can't keep her wand that long! She needs it!"

Sirius shrugged, "It's almost the end of April and our exams are in June. I need to know that you'll actually do my homework – and exams – and won't skip out on me once you get the wand back. That's the deal. If you don't like it, then that's a real shame. We'll see you girls later." He started to walk off and motioned for Remus to follow. The lanky boy silently strode after his friend, Albert snuffing at his heels as he walked.

"I thought -" Evelyn started, absolutely floored by the turn of events. "I thought you wanted to help! I thought you were sorry!"

"I am sorry," he said over his shoulder, "and I am helping! Cat won't be out of the hospital wing for a few weeks anyway, so she won't be using her wand in that time. I'll keep it safe until then. And by the time she _is_ out, she won't need it! She'll get it back in time for summer break. Don't worry about it!"

The two boys disappeared into the night, Albert having retreated back to his owner. Gritting their teeth, the two girls stomped back through the trees and towards their houses.

"This entire thing was a complete waste of time," Evelyn growled as they approached the castle. "I can't believe we fell for that."

"At least we know they have it – at least they say they have it. It's just a little over a month until summer break, so we'll just do what they ask, get the wand back, and then we never have to deal with them again."

"Sounds good to me," Evelyn said, stepping over Albert as he ran underfoot. "I don't ever want to see that Sirius's stupid face again once this school year is over!"

"Don't worry, you won't have to."

Parting ways, both girls returned to their dorms and fell asleep, agitated and a bit anxious about the month to come. They had the feeling that as the days went on, Sirius and Remus would find more tasks for them to complete before they were given the wand.


	6. Breaking a Thousand Year Record

**A/N:** I have taken the first 4 original stories and reformatted them into 10 shorter chapters. AFTER CHAPTER 10 I WILL UPLOAD NEW CONTENT.

Please remember to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you so much!

* * *

The next morning Sirius arrived in the library after lunch with a pile of papers and a wide grin on his face. Regulus and Severus hadn't shown up yet for the study session, so Sirius took the time to talk to Evelyn who sat alone at a large wooden table surrounded by thick books. She glowered at the man who slid into the seat across from her and plopped the papers onto the table.

"Here you go," he said cheerfully. "I actually took notes on what my homework is supposed to be just for you!" He looked over the parchment Evelyn had under her hands. "What's that? Notes for my brother?"

"Yes," she said quietly, pressing her fingers into the paper and pulling it closer to herself.

"You know, you're really nice – for helping out my brother. Our family … they're not really big on asking for help."

"The Black family," Evelyn said with a bit of contempt. "Your brother is very kind, but I worry about what your parents are telling him." She paused and looked at his tie, noticing the colors. "I know you're in Gryffindor. Regulus said …" She hesitated and looked up at Sirius, his grey eyes full of concern and curiosity.

"What?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. He cleared his throat and spoke up a bit, "What did he say?"

"He said that it was your parents' greatest disappointment. He said that he … he's upset that you're not in Slytherin – with him. He wishes you were." She paused again and looked down at the notes, tracing over some of the potion ingredients. "I think he misses you."

They sat in silence for a moment, Evelyn staring at the notes and Sirius staring at her. Finally he pushed the papers across the table to her and gave a weak smile.

"Thanks," he whispered. "I always wondered." He looked over when he heard the doors open and saw the two Slytherin boys enter the library. "Don't forget to give Goldie these papers," he pointed at a few of them, "they're the prompts for the essays."

"What about the stuff I need for the," she lowered her voice, "Polyjuice Potion? I can't get that all myself."

"Remus and I will head down to Hogsmeade tomorrow after lunch," he said. "We'll pick up the ingredients for you. Is there anything else you need from Hogsmeade? Butterbeer? Firewhisky? Amortentia?" He winked playfully at her. It seemed he did that a lot. Evelyn was unfazed and smiled back at him.

"I don't need any of those," she said sweetly. "Certainly not some silly love potion. I'm not interested in anything like that."

"Oh," he said, his face falling a bit. He looked up when Severus and Regulus approached the table, the former with a scowl on his face. "Well I'll let you go. I'll see you later." He nodded towards his brother who looked away and fidgeted with his green and black striped tie. "See you around, Sniv – Severus." He looked at Evelyn to see if she caught his near slip up, but she wasn't paying attention to him any longer.

The Slytherin boy frowned deeply but said nothing. Sirius left and the two boys sat down at the table. Severus looked at the pile of parchment that had only a few lines scribbled across the top of each.

"What are these?" he asked, grabbing them. "Is this from _him_?"

"Yes," Evelyn said calmly, taking the papers back.

"What are you doing? Tutoring him now? Or just doing his homework?"

Evelyn placed the parchment in the seat to her left, away from Severus, and pulled the Potions textbook closer to herself. "He just needed help with a few things and I said I'd do some research for him."

"Can't he do it himself?"

"He's busy," she said. It wasn't entirely a lie because she really didn't know if he was busy or not. He seemed to be a bit lazy, but he may have had a full social schedule – something she couldn't imagine for herself. She was happy enough with her four friends – Goldie, Cat, Regulus, and Severus. She mostly preferred to be around animals and made a point of spending all her free time with her familiar, on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest socializing the creatures for Kettleburn's class, or up in the Owlery.

Without allowing any more talk about Sirius or the papers he'd given her, she started the lesson on Potions for Regulus, while Severus chimed in with information that both improved the recipes and made it easy for Regulus to remember – ensuring that he would suffer very few ill side effects if he did mess up one or two of the steps.

After half an hour, they turned their attention to Severus and helped him study.

* * *

Evelyn met Goldie between classes to hand off three pieces of parchment that each had the prompt of the essay written across the top. It took a bit of deciphering on her part, but she managed to make out just what the scribbled, sloppy handwriting said. Irritated that she had been dragged into this blackmail scheme, she sat down after all her classes were finished and began writing out some of the essays. She had discovered, thanks to Evelyn's quick thinking and diligent searching, an easy Handwriting Spell that enchanted her quill to imitate the handwriting of whoever they were copying. Of course, the spell did not work for the handwriting of very important or powerful wizards – such as Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Dumbledore, or anyone from the Ministry of Magic. It was used mostly when students got others to do their homework for them, and didn't want to get caught (much like now).

The first essay was simple – a three page report on the uses of mandrakes. She only needed two textbooks to complete the essay, which seemed a bit repetitive as it was difficult to fill out three pages just on mandrake uses – but she managed. The next essay was a bit more complicated, but she was excited for it. She had to write a five page essay for Sirius's Astronomy class, and Goldie loved all things space. Of course, it was a lot more technical than she hoped, but after a few hours she got out a very fun essay that she was _sure_ the professor would know wasn't written by Sirius.

The third and final essay was about Acromantulas, which Goldie hadn't heard of before then. The photo in the textbook sent chills up her arms – a huge tarantula-like beast that was described as "giant" with a "taste for human flesh." She really didn't blame Sirius for not wanting to write this essay. She was sure that Evelyn would've enjoyed it, flipping through the thick book on magical beasts, but she didn't like the Acromantula's eight gleaming eyes staring back at her from the page.

She finished it up as fast as she could and closed the book, shuddering at the thought that such creatures existed. She didn't like spiders to begin with – now she had to live with the knowledge that there were _giant man-eating tarantulas who could speak to humans_. It was the worst news she'd ever heard in her life.

"What are you doing here?"

She looked up and her face turned pink when she saw Jake standing there, rolled parchment in hand. He looked at the stack of books and curling papers on the library table. He noticed the one she had just closed and its shiny gold title.

"I didn't know you were taking another Care of Magical Creatures class," he said, as if he knew all of Goldie's classes.

"Oh, I'm n -" She stopped short, realizing she couldn't just _admit_ that she was doing somebody else's homework. She squeezed the quill in her hand and then firmly placed it alongside the parchment and smiled warmly at the boy. "I'm nearly finished," she said, "with my essays. I just wanted to get them done early. And – yeah! Yeah, I'm in another Care of Magical Creatures class. I just … love those creatures." She mentally cursed herself for saying something so stupid.

"Ah." Jake actually sat down at the table across from Goldie and she thought she was going to die of shock. Sure, they had a study date planned for later that week but she was surprised that he had just willingly sat down at her table and was talking to her without her starting the conversation.

Jake looked at the essays and motioned towards one. "Three? What classes _are_ you taking?"

Goldie had to curse mentally again – this time because she had to lie about her schedule. "Herbology and Astronomy," she said. "They're really interesting."

"So you must really like nature."

"Oh, yeah. A lot. It's the best."

Jake nodded, but said nothing in response. Blushing hotly from embarrassment and wishing she was able to be much cooler than she actually was, Goldie pushed the parchments together and folded her hands on top of them, just in case Jake was looking at them and trying to read what she'd written.

"So," he said suddenly, "this is where we'll be meeting for our study date?"

Her heart fluttered when he said _date_ and she stammered out a, "Yes!" before grabbing the papers and standing suddenly. "I have to go now."

He looked at the table. "Are you going to put these books away?"

"Oh! Uh – yes?"

Jake looked at the girl who was incredibly flustered, trying to balance the parchments and pick up the books. He stood and picked up three of the large novels.

"I'll put them away," he said. "You should go. You seem to be in a hurry."

"You don't have to -"

"I don't mind. I'm sure you're tired of looking at these books. Go ahead."

Goldie smiled gratefully and thanked him before rushing out of the library, enchanted quill in her robe pocket, parchments under her arm. She tried to stop by the hospital wing to see Catlin, but was stopped in the doorway by Pomfrey who gave her a stern, unwavering look that said, "I am _not_ letting you in here", so she turned and left. She passed by a group of second-year Gryffindors who chatted excitedly about the upcoming Quidditch game that Saturday.

Retreating to the Hufflepuff common room for a few hours, sneaking away for a moment into her dorm to hide the essays under her bed and the quill back on her bookshelf, she sat in one of the large, plush couches among some of the other girls. A few of them were playing with enchanted cards – a game in which one person shuffled a deck and chose a card, and the second player had to use forms of Divination or Legilimency to accurately guess which card was chosen. The enchanted cards were hardly ever the same twice – often combining shapes, colors, numbers, and photographs of witches and wizards to make the guessing even harder. It was a way for students to practice Divination (in which they used various methods to predict the cards) or for Legilimens to use their powers (in which they simply just read the mind of the card holder).

One girl was sitting in an armchair with a pair of carved knitting needles that seemed to hardly ever stop moving. A thick dark blue blanket slowly piled up in her lap as she knitted, holding a conversation with the girl sitting at the foot of the armchair who was stitching an extra pocket into the inside of her robe.

"It's for my boyfriend," the girl said cheerily as the blanket grew with every row of stitches, "he's in Ravenclaw."

Goldie missed having Catlin in the house, though Goldie was far more social than any of her friends. She could have easily struck up a conversation with anyone in the room, but she still felt lonely. She wished Pomfrey would let her visit her friend – or let her back into the house and let her recover in her own dorm room. When dinner rolled around, she followed the group of Hufflepuff students into the dining hall, passing by the parade of house elves returning to the kitchen.

Goldie felt even lonelier when she entered the hall and sat at her table. Across the room, at the Slytherin table, was Evelyn. She could see that the redhead was sitting besides Regulus and Severus, so at least she wasn't alone. She glanced around and caught sight of the four Gryffindor boys who were talking loudly together and laughing, shoving one another and trying to get the attention of a girl with long, bright red hair several seats away. The girl talked with her friends, looked over at the boys and giggled.

"Are you okay?"

Goldie looked over to see Gwyn Bowen, a fair-haired girl with soft brown eyes and a small scar on her forehead where she'd received stitches after a student had used Expelliarmus on a classmate and their wand hit her hard enough to leave a nasty cut.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, smiling. "Why?"

"You look so sad," Gwyn said, her voice barely audible over all the noise. "Are you missing somebody?"

"Cat," Goldie replied. "She's in the hospital wing."

"Oh, yes, I heard about that. I miss her too. She always says hi to me. I guess it's because we live in the same house ..." Gwyn smiled softly at the girl, leaned across the table, and placed her hand over Goldie's. "I'm sure she'll be fine. There's lots of spells and potions to make people better. Have you been able to see her?"

"A bit, but Pomfrey doesn't like visitors."

"You can make her a get well card," Gwyn said, "and have an owl deliver it. It's not like she can ban owls from the hospital wing. They're too fast for her to catch."

Goldie laughed, "That's true. Maybe I'll do that."

After dinner Goldie and Evelyn joined each other and waited outside in the corridor until the four Gryffindor boys appeared, still jovial and very loud. Sirius saw them first and smiled at them, offering a wave and a, "Hello, girls!"

James saw them and frowned a bit, recognizing Evelyn. She gave a quick scowl back at the boy who seemed a bit surprised. The four approached the girls and stopped. Peter looked nervous, staring at Evelyn who stared back.

Sirius noticed this and quickly intervened, though not necessarily to actually make peace, but simply to talk and act as the hero.

"Now, now, children," he said, "let's all get along and play nicely. After all, we're going to be seeing each other _a lot_ before we all go home this summer."

"What do you mean 'we'," Goldie started, looking at the second tallest boy. "I thought it was just Evelyn, me, Cat, you, and Remus. You got _them_ involved?"

"I had to. I live with them. Besides, it's not like they're going to tell on us," Sirius said, not at all concerned about getting James and Peter involved.

"Well we're not doing _their_ homework, too," Evelyn said quickly. "Yours has been more than enough. And I still need stuff for the potion."

"You're in luck! James and Peter happened to go down to Hogsmeade before lunch and picked up _exactly_ what you needed! And enough for a couple of batches as well."

James pulled out a leather sack filled with items from under his robes and handed it over to Evelyn who hid it quickly, afraid of being caught.

"Better get started on making that tonight."

"I'll need something of yours as well," Evelyn said. "It's the only way the potion will work."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I put something in there."

Evelyn grimaced. "I hope it was hair."

Goldie pointed a finger at Sirius and shook it, planting her other hand firmly on her hip. "You better give us that wand at the end of all this. And I don't want to hear you saying that you'll give it back _after_ summer is over, because oh – she won't need it _during_ summer because magic isn't allowed outside of school. On the platform, the day we leave. You give it back."

"Cross my heart and swear to die," he said, tracing an X over the left side of his chest.

"Good. Now what do you two want with this?" She looked at James then at Peter.

"We didn't want anything," James said, surprisingly civil. "But these two got involved and it's not like they can keep their mouths shut -"

"I can too," Sirius defended, "I just thought it was extremely rude not to tell you. You make it sound like I'm some sort of loudmouth."

Goldie rolled her eyes. "I finished your essays, okay? They're in my dorm right now, but I'll get them for you tomorrow."

"Well we're here now, so we might as well just get them." Sirius grinned. "Go ahead, lead the way! I've been dying to see the inside of Hufflepuff House."

Goldie looked over at Evelyn who was just as helpless in this situation. Sighing, the girls turned and led the four down the corridors of the castle, slipping past other students heading back to their common rooms for the evening. They passed by Professor Uggeri who seemed to be as tall as the ceiling as he slunk through the hall, his skin as pale white as a ghost. He spotted Goldie and headed for her, his dark eyes focusing on her as he stopped the group.

"Good evening, Miss Hope," he said slowly. "Where are you headed to?"

"Back to our dorms," Goldie said, and it technically wasn't a lie.

"Hm," he looked over the group and noticed their ties. "You're not all in Hufflepuff House. You aren't trying to sneak into one another's dorms _are you_?"

"Of course not!" Goldie said, looking surprised and a bit offended. "Why would we do that? Professor, we were just walking together after dinner. The boys are going to escort us to our Houses and then go back to their Tower."

"Mmhm." He looked over the boys who were nervous under the sharp gaze of the tall man. He studied them for a while more, but seemed to believe Goldie and strode off past them. "Have a good night. I will see you later."

"Night, Professor," she called out after him. Giving a worried look to Evelyn, Goldie scurried down the hallway and down towards the entrance to the Hufflepuff House. She turned on her heels and looked at the four boys. "Don't look," she said. "I don't want you knowing how to get into my House." She waited until the boys had either covered their eyes or turned around. Before she could tap on the correct barrel, Sirius spun around and threw his hands down, pointing an accusing finger at Evelyn.

"Wait! Why doesn't _she_ have to cover her eyes?"

"Because I trust her," Goldie said simply, waving her wand at the boy. "Now turn around!"

Sirius did as he was told and Goldie tapped the wooden barrel to the correct tune. The lid swung open and revealed the short, round entrance to her House.

"Alright, come on then." Goldie got down on her hands and knees and crawled through the passageway. The four boys looked after her in disbelief.

"We have to crawl?" Sirius asked. "What kind of House ..."

"Oh, stop it," Evelyn said. "Like your House is so great."

"At least we don't have to _crawl_ into our House," he said, his eyebrows knitting together.

"There's another entrance," Evelyn replied, "the main one. She didn't want to show it to you, though, in case you figured out how to get in. It's a bit simpler, so that's why she used this one."

"Huh. Fine. After you."

The four boys and Evelyn followed Goldie through the round door and into the common room, which was warm and cozy. A few students were still piled on overstuffed couches and chairs, and looked over in surprise at the five unexpected students who clearly didn't belong in the House. A few eyes widened when they saw who just who it was – the four Gryffindor boys that practically ruled the school. Plus, they noted, there was a _Slytherin_. Not that that was exactly bad, just unheard of.

Goldie greeted Gwyn who rushed over to meet the newcomers.

"This is James, Peter, Remus, Sirius, and Evelyn."

"It's so nice to meet you," Gwyn said, shaking their hands firmly. "We don't ever get visitors in our House. People think it's a bit silly that we're so close to the kitchen. But I think it's okay … it's easiest for us to sneak out and get snacks in the middle of the night."

"Brilliant," Peter breathed, his eyes wide. "You can just sneak right into the kitchen, can't you? I wish our Tower was close to the kitchen."

"Wait here," Goldie said. "I'll go grab … the notes."

"Oh, are you helping them study?" Gwyn asked.

"Yes, and they need the notes tonight. I forgot to give it to them during dinner. I'll be right back."

"Why can't we go with you?" Peter asked.

"Boys aren't allowed in the girls' dorm," Goldie said quickly as she rushed down one of the corridors and to the dorms. She found the parchment and returned the common room to find that a group of Hufflepuffs had gathered around the group, greeting them in excitement and conversing with them. They were asking lots of questions, mostly about how they managed to convince Goldie to let them into the House.

"There hasn't been anyone who wasn't in Hufflepuff inside this House in a thousand years," said Martin, a very thin blonde boy with huge, blue eyes. "I can't believe it …" He turned to look at Goldie. "We probably shouldn't tell anybody about this. I kind of want to keep that record going … It makes our House unique."

"I won't tell anybody if you don't," Goldie agreed. "Here." She shoved the parchment at Sirius who took it gratefully and looked it over.

"That's amazing," he said. "You got my handwriting down exactly. How did you do that?" He looked up, saw Martin and Gwyn were staring at him, and feigned an innocent smile. "I'm only teasing. Thanks for the notes! I'll be sure to … get them back to you."

"No need, I've finished with them."

"Right, well ..." He looked around the room and took in the round windows filled with potted plants, the thick scent of honey and butterscotch, and a few armchairs that had been patched with brightly patterned squares of cloth. "This is a really neat House. It's very … earthy."

"Yeah."

"Do you like plants, then? I mean, is that what you want to do? Be an Herbologist? It seems like you Hufflepuffs are really good at all that stuff."

"Not really, no, I don't want to be an Herbologist. And plants are okay, but they're not my passion or anything. Cat really likes plants." She motioned to one of the windows filled with empty Butterbeer bottles spilling over with twisting vines and pale blooms. "She grew those. I think they're moonflowers? I'm not sure."

"Oh, does _she_ want to be an Herbologist?" Peter asked.

"She doesn't like all the science involved, so no. Anyway, it's getting late so you should probably go now. Our Head of House will be coming back soon and you can't be seen here." She showed them back to the passageway they had entered in through and they all shuffled out, crawling through the tunnel and out of the door and into the hallway. She gave a few parting words to them, Sirius thanked her again for the essays then he offered to walk Evelyn back to her House since it was so far away and it was already getting dark, and the group of boys left, Evelyn in tow. Goldie returned to her dorm and was flocked by the group of Housemates who eagerly wanted to know if she was going to bring them back again sometime.

"Maybe Evelyn, but not the boys. They just needed notes, that's all. I'm not really friends with them."

Groaning in disappointment, the other Hufflepuffs shuffled off towards their dorms for the night. Gwyn walked alongside Goldie, trying to encourage her.

"Don't worry about all of them," she said gently. "They were just excited to have someone other than Hufflepuffs in here. It's pretty much unheard of! I have to admit it was kind of fun … But don't let them pressure you into bringing _boys_ back here. We all know who they are, and quite honestly, I am surprised that they even came here … They seem too cool for us. I mean – they _pretend_ that they're too cool for us."

"Trust me," Goldie laughed, "they most certainly aren't cool. They're just a bunch of fifth years who just haven't met their match – yet."

Gwyn couldn't help but laugh too and parted ways to her own room. Goldie peeled off her robes and flopped onto the bed, crawling under the patchwork quilt. She was absolutely exhausted from working on three essays for Sirius, and that was just for this week! She couldn't imagine how much more he would have for the next month and a half while he held Catlin's wand hostage. Plus she hadn't gotten any of her own homework done at all that day, which meant she would have to work extra hard tomorrow just to catch up. _Plus_ she had her Potions class tomorrow, which she was not looking forward to. She didn't even bother to change out of her clothes, she just kicked off her shoes, pulled a pillow over her head and fell deep asleep.


	7. Goldie's Patience

**A/N:** I took the first 4 chapters and reformatted them into 10 shorter chapters. I WILL UPLOAD NEW CONTENT AFTER CHAPTER 10.

Please remember to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you!

* * *

The next day, Wednesday, the sun rose and Goldie did the same along with the other two girls in her dorm room – the one bed laid empty as Catlin was still in the hospital wing. The bed was still unmade as she had rushed her friend to the hospital wing and she hadn't thought about tidying up for her. But she thought maybe it would be nice to clean up a bit for when she returned from the hospital wing.

Her Potions class didn't start for a while, so she made Catlin's bed, folded the extra quilt neatly and laid it across the foot of the bed, straightened a few of the books that had fallen over in the bookshelf beside the bed, pulled back the yellow curtains around the bed, and pushed back one of the potted plants that had somehow gotten too close to the edge of a shelf. Goldie half suspected that the plant moved when nobody was looking, and it kind of unsettled her. She knew her friend was always muttering, "Plants are alive too, they deserve to be treated just as kindly as any beast or animal", but Goldie hadn't realized that when Cat said "alive" she meant " _sentient_ ".

Deciding it was good enough, and that she didn't really want to be around a plant that moved on its own any longer than she needed to be, she headed to her Potions class, textbook and parchment in hand.

* * *

Goldie managed to hold her tongue throughout class, and took a moment to flip past the required reading to a part of the textbook they hadn't gotten to yet. Polyjuice Potion. She was quite curious how long it actually took to make, and what went into it. It's difficulty level was Advanced, and it needed one month to brew – so Sirius wasn't lying when he said Evelyn needed to start right away.

Her stomach churned when she looked over the ingredients and realized that Evelyn would have to _drink_ it. Lacewing flies, Boomslang skin, leeches … not to mention the bit of the person they wanted to turn into. Granted, Evelyn ate a lot of questionable things – usually seafood like dried squid, raw tuna, eel, and octopus tentacles – but she knew for a fact that nobody could stomach a thick, bubbling, fermented stew of leeches and snakeskin.

Quickly flipping back to the assigned reading, Goldie tried to concentrate on the potion they were studying, but it was hard. There were so many things on her mind, and even after reading the same line three times in a row, she still didn't comprehend what it was she was reading. She looked around the room at the other students. They were skimming easily through the text and returning to their cauldrons, discussing measurements and mixtures.

Suddenly, there was a loud _crack_ , an explosion, and the entire room filled with thick, white smoke that smelled like burnt peaches and pine wood. Slughorn went running towards the table where three students had been knocked to the floor, their hair sticking straight up, their faces and clothes covered in thick, dark orange liquid, and the hem of one's robe was on fire.

"Not like that!" he shouted, waving his arms around. "Not yet! You aren't supposed to make anything yet! We haven't finished reading how to brew it!" He stomped on the end of a boy's robe, putting out the fire, and helped him stand. The other two students helped each other up and tried to brush off the orange slime, but it had solidified into some type of tacky, elastic mass that was a bit like a facial peel. They started to freak out, clawing at the thick layer of goo, realizing it took a lot of effort to pull it off. Slughorn was trying to comfort the three while keeping the rest of the class calm. There were a handful of kids who were trying their hardest not to laugh, as they weren't sure whether the orange mud was deadly or not.

Fifteen minutes of peeling the tacky substance off of the students' faces later, Slughorn was back up front, sweat beading his forehead, and his shirt covered in remnants of whatever it was those kids had created in their cauldrons. Exhausted, he cleared his throat, wrung his hands, and said simply, "We're just going to do some more reading for the rest of class. Please … don't touch your cauldrons, and don't – _don't_ – mix anything. Please."

* * *

The rest of the day passed without incident. Evelyn soared through her classes, met with Goldie before and after lunch, spent her free time strolling around the castle grounds until her final class started, then met again with Goldie after dinner. They had little information to exchange, and had not met with the four boys that day. Both of them were too exhausted to sneak into the hospital wing, so they sat in the grass outside for an hour, enjoying the cool evening, before returning to their Houses and going to bed.

* * *

Thursday, the 24th, was a bit more exciting. Goldie didn't even mind that she had to write an essay for her History of Magic class because something truly amazing happened. Something totally unexpected, and a bit surprising.

Bernice had decided that she didn't like Goldie at all. Not a single ounce. Which meant that Bernice's friends didn't like her either. Every time Goldie was called on to answer a question, Bernice made a very loud, very rude comment. Her friends would laugh obnoxiously, disrupting the class. Professor Uggeri looked very tired and very annoyed, but no matter what he did, the girls would not stop.

Sometimes Uggeri wouldn't even ask a question and Bernice would immediately start screaming how stupid Goldie was, and how she was an awful student because, "You know, she suffers from that disease! She's got HD-DD."

Goldie turned around, "It's ADHD – and I can function fine with it. You just won't give me the chance to say anything before you butt in with your big mouth."

Bernice balled her hands into fists and glared at the curly-haired girl ahead of her. "You think you know so much, huh? You're just as dumb as I said!"

"Yeah," Goldie replied, annoyed, "I think I do know more about what 'diseases' I live with than you do."

Uggeri held up his long, thin hands to hush the girls before things got ugly. "Please," he said calmly, "it's not a day for fighting. We are all students here, and we are all trying to learn. Some of us have obstacles we must overcome in order to learn the material, but that doesn't mean we're _bad_ at it. We must find our limitations, accept them, learn from them, overcome them, and continue on to the next level of education. If you are constantly beating down your fellow classmates, all of us will struggle on our way to higher learning. You should be encouraging each other to do well and to face our difficulties with enthusiasm, because we know that we have people behind us, willing to help."

"I'm not standing behind her!" Bernice shouted, jumping to her feet and slamming her palms on her desk. "And I'm not helping her to achieve no goals she's got! She's the one with the limitations, _not me_!"

Uggeri sighed, returned to his desk, sat down, and put his head into his hands.

"I'm not stupid!" Bernice said, pointing at Goldie. "And don't you try to prove I am!"

Suddenly, Jake turned around in his seat, locked eyes with Bernice and very quietly but very sternly said, "Sit down, please," (it wasn't a request). "You really don't know what you're talking about. You aren't the one who has to live with ADHD and you certainly aren't well enough educated on it to make a statement about it. Goldie is doing the best she can in this class, but you just give her a lot of grief for no reason. You're disrupting the class, making it hard for other students to learn, and you're _wasting our time_. No one is calling you stupid, but we may be calling you inconsiderate, lazy, and rude. Goldie has overcome a lot to maintain her grades and to pass this class. You, on the other hand, have done everything it takes to fail. You barely show up, you don't do homework, your class participation leaves much to be desired, and _you're an extremely rude and unpleasant person when you're being mean_. You aren't stupid, Bernice. But you're making it hard to want to be your friend."

The young blonde was red in the face, a mix of embarrassment and anger. She looked at Goldie then back at Jake, her eyes blinking rapidly as tears started to form. She tried to speak, but her voice cracked and her lips trembled violently.

Finally she pressed her lips together and quietly asked, "M-May I pl-please be excused?"

Uggeri nodded and Bernice rushed out of the room, her hands pressed hard against her face. Jake turned to Goldie who was conflicted. She had this strange mix of guilt, joy, and peace inside her chest that sunk down into her stomach. She didn't want Bernice to _cry_ , although she was pretty sure Bernice had made several other students cry before. Goldie couldn't tell if this was a case of just desserts, karma, or bullying.

The rest of class passed by a bit uneventful, but afterward Uggeri called Jake and Goldie to stay. Nervous about what he could possibly want, Goldie tugged at her robes and picked at her nails. Jake seemed composed and not totally freaked out at the possibility of detention. Of course, he may have been upset on the inside – he was really hard to read. It was one of the very few frustrating things about him; Goldie could never tell just what he was thinking or feeling. Expect, of course, when he spoke his mind – which didn't seem to be that often.

After the rest of the students had filed out of the room, Uggeri turned his attention to the two students. He towered over them, looking more like a thin, white tree trunk than a human being. His sharp features were intimidating and his eyes bored deeply into Goldie, and for a moment she wondered if he had the power of Legilimency.

"Bernice is fine," he said, and Goldie was now certain he did have mind-reading abilities. "She went out and had a good cry, but she's fine now."

"I didn't mean for her to cry," Goldie exclaimed, as if she were the one who had caused all this. "And neither did Jake," she added, just to cover her bases.

"I know that. She is a very difficult student, and she is struggling with learning disabilities of her own. She doesn't like to ask for help, so she _hasn't_ gotten any help with her classes. It doesn't help that the people she hangs out with discourage seeking help and doing well in school. That's why I would like it if you two would be willing to include her with any study sessions you have, and maybe … try to befriend her."

This conversation was definitely going in a far different direction than Goldie and Jake were expecting. They exchanged glances then turned back to Uggeri.

"So … you want us to tutor her ..." Goldie started.

Jake finished, "And be her friend?"

"Yes. If that's possible. You two are planning to study this Saturday, yes?"

Goldie blushed, "Y-Yes."

"If you could include her then, that would be wonderful. And just … she may say no, but keep asking her until she says yes. She really needs somebody to help her – and not just in this class."

"Of course," Jake said, taking over the conversation when he noticed Goldie's conflicted feelings were on her face. "We would be glad to. We don't want her to fail – and we don't want her to be friendless."

"Thank you," Uggeri said genuinely.

He dismissed the two and they stepped out into the hall. Goldie looked at Jake, both amazed and confused. He gave her another small smile, but her heart didn't skip a beat this time.

"Why did you defend me?" she asked as they strolled down the stone hallway. "You didn't have to … You could've gotten in trouble."

"She didn't know what she was talking about," he said quietly. "I didn't want her talking like that about you … or anyone else. And she really is an unpleasant person most of the time. But I guess she has more going on than either of us knew." He shrugged and stuck his hands into his pockets. "Maybe she'll get the help she needs, and maybe she won't be so horrible if she has some decent friends."

"Yeah … maybe."

They got to the end of the hall, where they were headed in different directions. Jake turned to look at Goldie.

"I know your friend is in the hospital wing. But I heard she's doing alright. If you want, you can go see her on Saturday and I'll just meet with Bernice."

"No," she said quickly. "That's fine! She really is doing well. Besides, Madam Pomfrey won't let anyone in to see her – so I'd be happy to meet you on Saturday. Er, you and Bernice … I'm sure we'll need each other to get through _that_ study session."

Jake gave a half-smile, his lips pulling up in one corner to reveal just the slightest glimpse of white teeth. A soft laugh escaped and he nodded, holding out one hand. "It's a date then."

Goldie instinctively shoved out her hand, took his and shook it, and said, "Y-Yes! It's a date!"

"Good. I would've been disappointed if you decided to cancel. I'll see you on Saturday, then."

"Yes – you will!"

Jake turned and strolled down the hallway, as cool as could be. Goldie watched after him, feeling her face and chest burn red. She didn't know _how_ Jake was so cool, but he was. It was like he didn't even have to try; he just existed and everything fell into place around him. Grinning like a fool in love, she turned on her heels, pressed the heels of her palms to her face to keep from squealing in excitement, and ran down the hall in the opposite direction. She definitely had to sneak into the hospital wing and tell Catlin about _this_.


	8. An Unhelping (Ghost) Hand

**A/N:** I took the first 4 chapters and reformatted them into 10 shorter chapters. I WILL UPLOAD NEW CONTENT AFTER CHAPTER 10.

Please don't forget to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you!

* * *

Goldie should have learned by now that she _could not_ get past Madam Pomfrey and her hawk eyes. It was like she had some type of sixth sense that alerted to any healthy students being within fifty feet of the hospital wing entrance, so that she could stand in front of the door with a serious expression that said "Stay away" and ward off visitors. Sending a note via owl was the only thing Goldie could resort to that she believed would effectively get past the nurse. Of course, owl post was only effective if you found a good owl to deliver the letter. Thankfully, Evelyn spent a lot of time around the Owlery and had assisted with handling the newer birds so they were accustomed to delivering letters and packages. Evelyn knew which owls were fastest, which maneuvered around obstacles the best, and which ones were the most reliable. Selecting a tiny screech owl, Evelyn tied Goldie's hurried - but rather lengthy - note to the owl's legs and released him into the air, telling him to head towards the hospital wing of the castle.

"What do you think will happen if Madam Pomfrey knows it's from us?" Goldie asked as she watched the owl soar through the air at incredible speed.

"Oh, I'm sure she knows it's from us," Evelyn said, squinting against the sun to watch the owl disappear around the castle. "But what is she going to do? _We_ didn't step foot in the hospital wing. She can't get mad at us! Come on, I think I'm supposed to start making that Poly - er, that very … _Sirius_ Potion … for exams." She laughed at her own joke but Goldie seemed preoccupied. "Do you want to help me go over the directions and see if we - if I - have all the ingredients?"

Goldie nodded firmly and patted her robes, searching for her wand. "Ah, there it is! I thought I'd lost it too. That would've been awful. We can't afford to be indebted to _two_ groups of people for losing our wands. Where do you want to go so we can go over the stuff?"

"There's an old bathroom people hardly ever use," Evelyn said, starting back towards the front of the castle. "It's a girls' bathroom, so we should be able to go in there without much problem."

"Why don't people use it? Wait - is that the one with the ghost?"

"Yeah - they call her Moaning Myrtle. Apparently she died in the bathroom."

"Gross. I wonder what happened to her?"

Evelyn shrugged, skipping up the stairs to the outdoor corridor. "I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to find out. But if we can sneak in there, we can go over everything without being disturbed."

"Shouldn't you have started the Potion already?" Goldie asked, a bit concerned. "When he gave you the stuff, he said you should 'really start that tonight', and that was what? Two days ago?"

"When would I have had time to do it? He's been making us do his homework! He's lucky I even agreed to do this. _Catlin_ is lucky I even agreed to do this. If it were me, I would've just said screw it and bought a new wand. I still think she should do it! What are those boys going to do? Report us? For what? They're the ones with a stolen wand _and_ the ones having their homework done. We may get in trouble for doing their homework, but probably not as much as them."

Goldie tugged at her own robes, feeling nervous as they headed into the castle and up one of the staircases. It was always difficult to determine where you were really going, and Goldie didn't feel like getting lost in a maze of corridors and endless rooms when they were doing something that could be considered illegal - or at least heavily frowned upon by the faculty. "I don't think … I mean, Catlin's too nice to do that. We could do it _for_ her, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. And, yeah, it's a month or so of doing extra homework but just remember - after this we _never_ have to see them again!"

Evelyn ducked around a corner and pointed down the hall. "There it is."

"That looks kind of … sketchy."

"I know. Oh - but, like you were saying - that's true, I guess. Just a month or so. It's just so annoying! They're annoying! Maybe it's because they're boys. Whatever. Catlin owes us big time once she's out of the hospital wing. And how long is she going to be there anyway? Isn't Madam Pomfrey supposed to use, you know, _magic_ to heal her instantly? What's taking so long?"

"There's a sign that says keep out! Is this really it?"

"Yes, I'm positive. Come on."

Goldie followed Evelyn to the door, a little ways behind just in case something popped out of the room like a ghost - or a creature - or a teacher - or, in the case of Professor Binns (who had finally returned to work and left Uggeri, the substitute, out of a job), all three. "I agree, they are annoying. And I'm not sure - maybe she can fix some things with magic, and some things need time? Cat said that Madam Pomfrey said she couldn't fly for a while, and that she had a concussion that needed to be monitored. Hopefully she won't stay concussed for too long."

Evelyn snorted,grabbing the handle of the bathroom door and leaning her forehead against the wood. " _Concussed_? Is that really the word for it?"

"Yeah, I think so. Hey, did you even bring the stuff you need?"

Evelyn rummaged around in her robes and pulled out the same pouch that James had given her a few days prior. "Right here. This doesn't seem like it'd be enough, but I guess we'll see won't we?" She put the pouch back and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. "And these are the instructions. I copied them down from my textbook because I figured it'd be suspicious if we lugged a huge book into an abandoned bathroom. Wait, do I hear someone?"

They both turned, straining their ears to see if they could hear anything. Shaking their heads, they turned back to the door and Evelyn pushed it open. The bathroom was dimly lit and water dripped from exposed pipes. It smelled of mildew and musk and something not-quite-right. They hurried into the room and shut the door behind them, shuffling towards the large sink in the middle of the room. Evelyn pulled out the pouch and handed the paper to Goldie.

"Do you want to read this off while I go through the pouch? It'd be easier that way."

Goldie unfolded the paper and smoothed it out, going over the ingredients. She grimaced again at the thought of Evelyn having to eventually drink this foul concoction. "Alright. Are you ready?"

Evelyn dumped the items onto the dirty floor and sifted through the,. "I'll put them back into the bag once you've read them off, okay? So go kind of slow and wait until I give my okay."

"Got it."

Slowly, they shuffled through the items - Goldie reading off the list and Evelyn going through every bit of skin or plant or wing that lay across the ground, putting it back into the bag. It surprised her that it held so much, but she figured it must have been because of magic. When they got to the end of the list, they concluded that everything they needed for exactly three batches of Polyjuice Potion were included in the bag. There was even three neat locks of Sirius' jet black hair, each one tied with a little silken ribbon and placed in a separate leather pouch.

"How conceited," Evelyn muttered, pulling the drawstring closed and hiding the bag in her robes again. "I'll come back here after dinner and I'll start making this, okay? It's pretty specific, but after dinner and before bed should be enough time to start it - even if I have to walk all the way back to the Slytherin House."

"Do you want me to stay and help?"

"No, you still have a lot of essays to write for him - not to mention your own homework. Besides, you should really rest up tonight. You have your big date with Jake tomorrow, don't you?"

Goldie flushed a shade of red that seemed almost unnatural and stuttered out, "I - I'm going on a _st-study_ date tomorrow, i-if that's what you mean. And it's not until the a-afternoon so, I'll have time to rest before then."

Evelyn patted Goldie's shoulder, "Don't worry about it. I think I can do it by myself, if you want to go back to your House after dinner. I won't hold it against you! This will take me quite a while and there's not much you can do."

"Well I -"

Suddenly, there came a loud rattling sound, a spew of water out of a toilet, and the more-annoying-than-terrifying howl of a disturbed ghost.

" _Who are you?_ " came a whining tone and soon a silver-tinted blue specter floated out of one of the stalls and down in front of them. She had her hair in pigtails and she peered out from behind large, round glasses. She was dressed in her Hogwarts robes, obviously the ghost of the deceased student the two girls had talked about earlier.

Goldie jumped slightly and stepped in front of Evelyn to obscure the girl, afraid maybe the ghost had seen them counting up the Polyjuice Potion ingredients. "Who - Who are you?"

The ghost whimpered and sighed, looking away. " _My name is Myrtle_ ," she hiccuped, trying to hold back tears. " _But everyone so meanly calls me Moaning Myrtle._ "

"Wh-Why is that?" Goldie asked, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Evelyn had everything tucked away safely.

" _I - I don't know!_ " the ghost wept, letting out a high-pitched wail. " _They're just so mean to me!_ "

Goldie exchanged looks with Evelyn and they shuffled backwards towards the door. "Well," Goldie said, "I'm sorry we disturbed you. But we'll leave you be. We just came in here because we thought the toilers were in use. Guess we missed the sign that said they weren't! Sorry about that."

" _Wait,_ " Myrtle called, reaching out a ghostly hand. " _Don't leave me! You're the first ones to visit me in such a long time! Don't you want to stay and talk? Please?_ "

Evelyn reached behind herself and fumbled for the knob, giving a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, but we've got to go. We're going to be late for class, you see. Can't afford that, not with exams so close! But we'll see you later. I guess. Not that we can avoid it."

" _You're coming back?_ " Myrtle gasped, her eyes filling to the brim with happy tears this time. " _No one ever comes back._ "

"I can see why," Goldie said under her breath. "Yes! We'll be back. And soon! Just … We've got to go now."

Without allowing the ghost to say anything else, the two girls ran out of the bathroom and sprinted down the hall, narrowly avoiding a collision with a few students as they turned corners and jumped down staircases. As if making the Potion wouldn't be hard enough, now they had to deal with a crybaby ghost hanging over their shoulder. Catlin had _better_ be grateful to them when this entire thing was over.

* * *

Lunch came and went, the girls dispersed to their classes, and then came dinner. Evelyn was too nervous to eat so she made her appearance at the Slytherin House table, waited until no one was looking and then slipped out of the dining hall, up the stairs, down a few corridors, and into the abandoned bathroom. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she was greeted by the glimmering ghost of Moaning Myrtle and the very-alive Goldie.

"What are you doing here?" Evelyn gasped, peeling away her robes to dump out the pouch and drop a cauldron she'd smuggled from Potions class, to the floor. "I thought you were going to rest up for tomorrow!"

"And let you have all the fun? Please! Like you said, there may not be much for me to do here, but I don't have anything else to do. I mean, I _could_ write more essays but I'm tired! This is the most exciting thing we've done and I want to be part of it!"

"Okay," Evelyn gave in. She handed the bag to Goldie. "You hand me the items when I ask for them, okay? This is _precise_. You can't get anything wrong when making a Potion or we could - I don't know, blow up or something. You got it?"

"Yes!" Goldie sifted through the bag and then looked at the list of items again. "Oh, wait …"

"What is it?"

"Uhm … actually, it looks like we're missing something."

" _What?_ "

Goldie handed over the items for Evelyn to double check. "I don't understand," Goldie said, pulling her curls back into a pony. "We went over it the first time. We had everything …"

The two turned to Moaning Myrtle and she gave them a scandalized look.

" _You think I would steal something from you?_ " she gasped, throwing her hand to her heart as if it'd been broken. " _I can't believe you think so lowly of me!_ "

"We had it," Evelyn said slowly. "We had everything!"

" _What is it that you're missing? Perhaps one of you ate it, thinking it was a snack._ "

"Right, that's logical," Evelyn growled. She pointed at the list in frustration. "We're missing fluxweed. Maybe they didn't get it … but I swore I went over everything and we had it all! And look, you need fluxweed that's been picked on the full moon! Anything else won't work!"

" _I guess …_ " Moaning Myrtle began, throwing them sad looks. " _Oh, nevermind. You don't want to hear anything_ I _have to say._ " She floated towards her stall, giving off a weird type of laughing sob. " _I'll just go away now …_ "

"Wait," Goldie called, stepping towards her. "What are you going to say?"

" _Oh nothing … just that I know something you obviously don't know._ "

Evelyn felt her eye twitch and she jumped up, knocking over the empty cauldron. "Why don't you just tell us then! Why are you so difficult?"

Whimpering, Myrtle spun around and crossed her arms in a huff. " _Why are you so mean? I'll only tell you if you promise to be nice to me and let me help make the Potion!_ "

Goldie and Evelyn stared at each other. Evelyn's face said "Please let me murder her". Goldie's face said "Please, for all things magical, don't do anything stupid - and you can't murder a ghost". They turned back to Myrtle and reluctantly agreed.

"Fine," Evelyn barked, righting the cauldron. "We'll let you … watch us. You can count how many times we stir. Okay?"

" _Promise?_ "

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Tell us what we need to know!"

Myrtle hummed as she spun around towards them, a high-pitched giggle threatening to spill over. " _Do you know what today is?_ "

"Yeah, it's Friday. What does that have to do with anything?" Evelyn asked, clearly annoyed. Goldie elbowed her in the ribs.

"Go on, Myrtle," Goldie said, trying to prevent another breakdown from the ghost. "What about today?"

" _It's April 25th to be exact,_ " Myrtle said cryptically. " _Are either of you familiar with the lunar calendar?_ "

"If she doesn't -" Evelyn started, turning to Goldie. Thankfully the Hufflepuff was quicker and louder and shoved Evelyn out of the way to stand before Myrtle.

"No, we aren't, I'm sad to say! Why don't you tell us? What does the moon look like tonight?"

Myrtle giggled again and spun up towards the ceiling, " _It's a full moon!_ "

"Wait," Goldie said, "so we can just pick some more fluxweed tonight?"

" _Of course! But you'd better be careful. There are lots of scary monsters that creep about outside the castle at night, especially around a full moon. You wouldn't want to get caught by one._ "

"That solves our problem," Goldie laughed, looking at Evelyn. "We'll just sneak out tonight like we've done before and get more fluxweed. Easy."

"That's not our only problem," Evelyn said, crumpling the paper into her hands and biting her lip to keep from screaming. "We need to stew the lacewing flies for _twenty-one days_ before we even _start_ on the Potion. This Potion actually does take an entire month to make."

"Well," Goldie murmured, looking at the pitifully empty cauldron that she wished was full of ready-to-go Polyjuice Potion, "I guess that's good we start now. We can leave the flies in here to stew for twenty-one days while we're busy with homework and essays and stuff. No one will come in here because of Myrtle -"

" _Hey!_ "

"- and then the Potion should be done right around the time exams are taking place. How long does this stuff keep?"

"I don't know. I just know it only lasts for about an hour once you take it, which is why I was supposed to make multiple batches because his classes are throughout the week."

"I think we should be good if we start on the flies right now. Then we'll sneak out tonight for the fluxweed. Unless we can get to Hogsmeade, tonight will be the only time we can get fluxweed - unless you want to ask Sirius for some more."

Evelyn made a face, "Yeah right! The less interactions with him, the better! I say we get the fluxweed tonight."

"Okay, let's do that then." Goldie handed Evelyn the pouch. "Get started on the lacewing flies. I'm going to wait out in the hall and be a lookout, then we can go back to dinner."

With a nod of approval from Evelyn, Goldie slipped out of the bathroom and waited in the hallway. It didn't take long before Evelyn joined her and they headed back to the dining hall, nonchalantly making their way back to their respective House tables. It would take a little bit of figuring out exactly where to go, but they needed to find that fluxweed tonight - on the full moon. Or else they'd be forced to go back to those Gryffindor boys and _ask the for a favor._ There was no way they'd be even more indebted to them. No, they had to do this themselves. No Sirius, no James, no Peter, no Remus. Just Goldie and Evelyn.

 _Catlin had better be grateful to them when this whole thing was over._


	9. Sneaking Out Doesn't Really Work Out

**A/N:** I took the first 4 chapters and reformatted them into 10 shorter chapters. I WILL UPLOAD NEW CONTENT AFTER CHAPTER 10.

Please remember to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you!

* * *

Goldie was heading back to the Hufflepuff House when she stopped dead in her tracks and stared straight ahead in surprise. "Hey!" she shouted, gaining the attention of everyone in the hall. The person in question turned, slowly, painfully, and looked at her in surprise. Then a happy smile spread across their face.

"Goldie!"

"Catlin! What are you doing out here?" Goldie rushed to her, grabbing her shoulders and looking her over. "Are you okay? Did you escape? How'd you get past Madam Pomfrey?"

"Your owl distracted her!" Catlin said, shrinking back to get out of the way of the oncoming rush of students.

"Wait, did you actually escape?"

"Yes! Your letter told me to."

"It did?"

" _Yes_! You told me that I needed to wait until Madam Pomfrey was busy trying to get the owl out - it was making a mess on the hospital beds - and then sneak out of the hospital wing. You wrote it on the back."

"Oh! Right! I'd forgotten about that."

"You forgot you told me to escape?"

"I was distracted by what's going to happen tomorrow!"

"Oh, you mean your date with Jake?"

Goldie's face burned red and she lowered her voice, "I-It's just a study date! Okay? And besides, _Bernice_ is going to be there, so it's not like it'll be romantic. She's probably just going to scream at me the entire time."

Catlin cast a few worried looks around the hall and edged backwards, following the crowd of students. "Let's go, okay? It won't take long for Madam Pomfrey to find me if we're standing out in the hall. Wait, is Bernice the one that hates you?"

"Yeah. Professor Uggeri said that we needed to include her. Okay, he _asked_ us to, but he might as well have told us we had to. Wait a minute."

"Huh?"

"We sent that owl this morning. Did you … Did you escape _this morning_?"

"Uh-huh."

"What have you been doing this entire time? Have you just been wandering around?"

Catlin took a moment to think before nodding. "Yes. I went out by the lake and spent a lot of time there because I thought Madam Pomfrey would search the castle first. But I got kind of hungry so I came inside during lunch and hid inside the kitchen. Then I stayed there until dinner. House elves are very nice, you know."

"O…kay." Goldie followed Catlin down the hall and back to the Hufflepuff House where they joined the others in the common room. It took less than five seconds for Gwyn to shout out Catlin's name and a whole flood of happy Hufflepuffs crowded around the girl, tugging at her and embracing her tightly. She refrained from wincing in pain, trying not to give away the fact that she hadn't been officially released by the school nurse.

"We missed you," Gwyn said, smiling warmly at her Housemate. "We thought we'd never see you again this semester! It sounded like you got quite the beating. Are you alright?"

Catlin knew that she _looked_ okay - her broken nose and black eye had been healed beautifully, but inside her body and her head she was still banged up. She blinked slowly and nodded, her concussion making it harder to think on the spot. "Very alright," she said, returning the smile. "But I'm kind of tired … You know, it's kind of weird how tired you can get even if you spend your entire day sleeping in the hospital wing."

"Oh, of course," said another Hufflepuff, nodding as if Catlin had imparted some sort of ancient wisdom upon them. "I totally understand that. We'll let you go up to bed. We'll try to keep it down. Do you need anything?"

"No, I think I'll be okay. Thank you."

The sea of Hufflepuffs parted and Goldie and Catlin paced themselves (Goldie as to not look suspicious, Catlin because she felt like she'd topple over at any moment) as they walked up to their dorm. Once there, they sat on Catlin's bed and Goldie began talking.

"Tonight, Evelyn and I are going to sneak out of the castle to get fluxweed."

"What's fluxweed?"

"What's - aren't you supposed to be really into plants?"

Catlin rigidly pointed at her head. "I don't know if you remember but … I had the crap beaten out of me … by a tree. I mean … I ran into it, and that was most of the getting beaten up but … I was also attacked by a dog. Fluxweed isn't really at the front of my mind at the moment."

"Right. It's just some plant that we need for Polyjuice Potion."

"Polyjuice Potion? What are you doing with that?"

Goldie stared at Catlin in silence. "Do you remember _anything_ I wrote in that note?"

"You're the one who forgot you told me to sneak out of the hospital wing, so I don't think it's really fair to attack me for my forgetfulness. And I have a concussion."

Goldie huffed and stood up, pacing around the room. "Okay, well let me just go over it again. After you got hurt by the tree, you lost your wand. Some Gryffindor boys found it and instead of turning it over, they decided to blackmail us into doing their homework. You remember this right? We told you this."

"Yes, I remember that."

"Good. Well, we're - actually Evelyn - supposed to take one boy's exams. But we - she - can't do it if she looks like him. So she has to take Polyjuice Potion to look like him so she can take his exams for him. Are you following?"

"Uh-huh."

"So once the brews the Potion, she can take the exams and then we'll get your wand back."

"Right."

"But we need the fluxweed for the Potion. We had it, but somehow we lost it."

"I don't remember this."

"Oh, well that's because we didn't write this in the letter. This happened at lunch."

"Okay. Go on."

"So we somehow lost the fluxweed we needed, and we don't want to ask those _boys_ for their help anymore, so we're going to find some ourselves. But we need fluxweed that's been picked on a full moon - which is tonight. The Potion takes such a long time to make that we can't miss it. It has to be tonight. Okay?"

Catlin nodded in affirmation. "Makes sense."

"So Evelyn and I are going out tonight to get the fluxweed and -"

"Wait, aren't I going along?"

Goldie made a face, "What? No. You just got out of the hospital wing - _without permission_ -"

" _Because you told me too - if I wasn't supposed to come along, then what was the point_?"

"- and it's far too dangerous! It's a full moon! Do you know what creatures there are running around the castle grounds on the full moon? We can't risk you out there too! What if you wander off and get hurt?"

"I'm not a baby, though."

"Yes, but you are concussed."

Catlin snorted with laughter. "Concussed? Is that the word/ I guess it is … I feel like I'm forgetting so much." She turned to her friend with pleading eyes. "Let me go with you. I won't be any trouble. I promise! And anything dangerous will be in the Forest. The castle grounds should be safe!"

"Say that to Myrtle," Goldie muttered under her breath.

"Huh? Who?"

"No - no one. Don't worry about it. I guess … I guess you can come along. You just have to be careful. We'll be quick - in and out! We're only grabbing fluxweed, and enough for the Potion. Nothing more, nothing less. And you have to stay beside us so we don't lose you."

"I'll be fine," Catlin stressed, standing up and wandering over to her bookshelf. "I'm not going to get lost." She reached up and trailed her fingers along the curling vines of the plant on one of the shelves. "Did you miss me? I'm sorry I was gone. It looks like you've been taken care of. Yes, I know, my insides don't look as good as my outsides. Huh? Madam Pomfrey? Ah ha ha, yeah, of _course_ she released me …"

Goldie made another face. "That's it. She's officially lost it. Maybe I _should_ leave her here."

* * *

That night, Goldie and Evelyn met outside the Hufflepuff House. Evelyn had used the excuse that she would be studying in the library after dinner, but she sneaked up to the bathroom to check on the lacewing flies and then hung around until she could go down to meet her friends. She should have waited longer, but Moaning Myrtle was getting on her last nerve and Evelyn was pretty close to figuring out how to murder a ghost.

They quietly waited for Catlin who slowly left the Hufflepuff House wrapped in a woolen scarf, trying to hide treats in her coat pocket. Evelyn was convinced that Catlin was just trying to milk her injuries from the Whomping Willow and that she _should have_ been given a clean bill of health already. Madam Pomfrey used magic, shouldn't she have been healed already?

"What took you so long?" Evelyn hissed, glancing around in paranoia of being caught.

"I have to find this." She pulled out a long, slender branch from her coat pocket.

"What is _that_?" Evelyn gaped, grabbing the stick. "Is this a trophy from the Whomping Willow? Did you _tear this off of it_?"

"No!" Catlin retrieved the stick and pointed it upwards. "It's my temporary replacement wand."

"What? Where'd you get a replacement wand? We haven't been to Hogsmeade since before the accident," Goldie said hurriedly. "And how'd you even afford it? I mean, no offense but wands are expensive - and you were on _bed rest by order of Madam Pomfrey._ How did you get it!"

"It's not a real wand," Catlin replied, stuffing it back into her coat pocket. "It's just a branch I found under my bed. I forgot I'd put it there last year."

"What for?" Evelyn asked.

"I thought maybe something like this might happen so I saved it when I found it outside between classes one day."

"You thought something like this might happen?" Evelyn gaped. "And you didn't do anything about it? And why is that something you imagined happening?"

Catlin shrugged and pulled her coat tighter around her. "I don't know. I just felt like it would happen. Sometimes I get that … a feeling like something's going to happen."

"Okay, aside from that being really weird," Evelyn stressed, "what are you doing with it?"

"It looks like a wand! Right? I'm hoping just seeing it will be enough to fool the teachers into believing I have it until I can get it back."

"I see," Goldie said, smiling brightly. "That's a good idea!"

"Yeah, but you won't really need your wand if you're in the hospital wing. And if Madam Pomfrey catches you, she'll keep you longer just to prove a point. And say you do get out of the hospital wing soon. What if a teacher asks you to perform a spell? What then?"

"Then I'll pretend to do one and when it doesn't work, I'll say my wand's been acting up. And I may get marked down some but at least I won't have to explain that I lost my wand - or that those boys found it." Catlin pulled out a cellophane wrapped candy from her coat, unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth.

"I guess that'll work," Evelyn said, throwing glances over her shoulder. "Of course, you could always say that you're still suffering from a concussion. I'm sure they'd believe it." She shuddered and rubbed her arms to warm herself. "Come on, let's get going. The longer we wait, the more likely we'll get caught."

"Okay, let's go." Goldie turned on her heels and led the other two through the halls and toward the front of the school. They crept into the shadows, each one keeping a lookout for teachers doing their nightly rounds. They'd sneaked out enough times that this routine was fairly simple, and they'd gotten used to which teachers would be out and about in the middle of the night. They held their breath when rapid footsteps echoed on the foyer from the second floor, bounding down the staircase like a student late for class. But they saw no one come off the stairs even though the footsteps seemed to echo across the lobby.

"Ghosts?" Evelyn asked in near silence. "Or those stupid boys? I don't know how they manage to keep themselves hidden."

"Wait," Catlin said slowly. "Are the … the boys we saw that night the same ones who have my wand? The ones you're doing the homework for?"

" _Yes,_ " Evelyn and Goldie hissed at the same time.

"We've told you this," Evelyn stressed, looking exasperated. "I don't think your concussion makes you forget things like that so easily. I think you're just playing us now."

Clambering out from the shadows once they were sure the coast was clear, they hurried out the front door and onto the castle grounds.

"I wonder which castle ghost that was, if it was one?" Goldie mused as they escaped into the night, reaching for her wand.

"I'm just thankful it wasn't Peeves," Evelyn muttered, grabbing her own wand from her jacket. "He's so loud and obnoxious. He would've definitely gotten us caught."

"Maybe it was -" Catlin didn't get to finish her thought when the sound of the front doors opening again caught their attention. They turned to see a figure standing in the doorway, illuminated by a light that they held.

"Is that -" Goldie wheezed, almost tripping over herself. "Is that _Filch_? Quick - hide!"

The three girls scattered into the surrounding trees, crouching low into the brush. Goldie peeked around the branches of her tree to see two silhouettes emerge from the castle's front entry and head out in their direction.

"We're gonna get caught," she whispered, loud enough for the other two to hear. "We've gotta go."

All three of them slipped from their hiding spots, almost colliding with each other.

"This way," Evelyn said, pushing forward to take the lead. She sprinted blindly through the trees, followed by Goldie. Catlin was a few steps behind, weighed down by her scarf and snacks.

"This seems too familiar," she panted, getting vivid flashbacks to when she'd body slammed into the most aggressive tree known to wizardkind.

"Cat, I swear on Merlin's glorious and aged beard," Evelyn said sharply over her shoulder, "if you slow us down or get us caught, you're dead to me."

"I know, I know," Cat breathed, "I'm trying -" She cinched her coat tighter and did her best to keep up. "I wasn't expecting to be chased!"

"Wait - not this way," Goldie barked, grabbing Evelyn's shoulders and steering her to the side. "You're headed straight for the Whomping Willow!"


	10. The Discovery

**A/N:** I took the first 4 chapters and reformatted them into 10 shorter chapters. I WILL POST NEW CONTENT AFTER CHAPTER 10.

Please remember to review/comment, subscribe to alerts and favorite this story! Thank you!

* * *

Catlin followed them off the path and to some of the larger boulders off to the side, collapsing next to her friends. Catching their breaths, they turned to kneel and watch over the rocks for their pursuers. It took a few moments but two people came out of the trees into the clearing and headed for the Whomping Willow.

"Where's Filch?" Evelyn asked, looking behind them to make sure he wasn't sneaking up on them.

"I don't know," Goldie said, squinting to see if she recognized the people. The full moon overhead provided enough light for …

"Maybe it wasn't Filch," Catlin said. "Maybe we were mistaken."

"Hey," Goldie breathed, grabbing the top of the boulder and sitting up straighter. "That's Madam Pomfrey! What's she doing here?"

"She probably went to give Catlin some medicine and found her out of her hospital bed." Evelyn turned to give her a disappointed look. "Nice going."

"But - But how would she know I was out here?"

"When she saw you were out of bed, she probably scoured the entire castle for you. This may be the last place she's looked," Evelyn said, shaking her head. "You led her right to us …"

"Maybe it's something else," Catlin said, watching as the nurse and the other person approached the tree. "Maybe she's … doing something with the Whomping Willow?"

"Like what?" Evelyn tugged on Goldie's arm to bring her lower behind the rocks. "Asking it if it's seen any students out of bed, wandering around? You do realize that Madam Pomfrey's returned to where you got hurt, right? She probably thinks you've come back here. Escaped the hospital wing to face off with the Whomping Willow? Jeez, she thinks you've escaped to take your revenge on the stupid tree."

"I guess that makes sense. I don't know, I - wait!" Catlin sat up straight this time, nearly jumped out from behind the boulders.

"What?" her friends said in quiet unison.

Catlin stared, transfixed, at the person with Madam Pomfrey. They seemed slow, weak, in pain … The way they carried themselves said something wasn't quite right. They turned, maybe to say something to the nurse, maybe to scan the area, but the light the nurse held flooded over their features and they were unmistakable.

"That's …" Catlin gasped, digging nails into the rock surface. "That's Remus!"

"Wait," Evelyn said, shifting to look herself, "one of the guys who has your wand?"

Goldie popped up beside them to see as well. "Oh … you're right. That _is_ him. I wonder what he's doing out here too?"

"You say it like you didn't believe me."

"I thought it was the concussion talking."

Catlin watched as the nurse and boy conversed for a brief minute. "Maybe he's helping her … with the Whomping Willow? Maybe he's studying to work in Herbology?"

"Okay but why come out here so late?" Evelyn sniffled, running a crumpled tissue over her bright red nose. "Oh my gosh."

"What?" Goldie asked in a panic. "Is Filch here?"

"No, I just realized … Look at him! He looks sick as a dog. The way he's standing … His face looks awful - and I don't think it's the lighting. It's a full moon, Madam Pomfrey is here, Filch maybe, and they're at the Whomping Willow …"

"And?" Catlin prompted.

"And? Cat - they're going to put him down, like a sick animal! And we're gonna have to watch! Oh, of all the days we decide to sneak outside, it's the day they decide to do an execution! And we're _witnesses_. If we're caught, we'll be killed too!"

"I don't think that's what's happening," Goldie reasoned, though she looked frightened. "They wouldn't do that … Isn't it illegal? The Ministry of Magic takes care of stuff like that, and they don't do executions … They send you to Azkaban."

"That's what I'm saying," Evelyn pleaded, shrinking down behind the boulder. "It's an illegal execution and we're _watching_ it. They'll get rid of us just for being here. I gotta go. I can't die like this. Not when I have Albert waiting for me!"

"You're not gonna die," Catlin said quickly and rather reasonably for someone who was still suffering from head trauma and not quite sure if what she was seeing was real. "And neither is Remus … I hope." She turned to see the boy but was surprised to see he'd disappeared. "Wait, where'd he go?"

"Oh my gosh, they obliterated him," Evelyn moaned, covering her eyes. "Blasted into pieces just like that! And we didn't even see it! Or hear it! Imagine what they'd do to us if they find out …"

"Look, Madam Pomfrey is leaving," Goldie pointed towards the direction they'd come from. Sure enough, Madam Pomfrey was departing - alone. Once she was gone, the three girls scrambled out from behind the rocks and jogged over to stand before the Whomping Willow. Looking it up and down, they concluded nothing had been done to it and it wasn't covered in blood or smatterings of Remus's remains.

Catlin made a tentative circle around the tree - out of arm's (or branch) length, but found nothing unusual or suspicious. A search of the surrounding area turned up no Remus, or anything else.

"Well, where'd he go?" Evelyn huffed impatiently. "He wouldn't have just disappeared! Oh my gosh, he Apparated. Madam Pomfrey's allowing students to Apparate away from the school at night. How scandalous!"

"Where would be Apparate to?" Catlin mused, looking up towards the full moon. "And why would she help? In the middle of the night? All the way out here?"

"I don't know, I'm not a teenage boy. Maybe he has a Muggle girlfriend he's secretly seeing?"

"That's kind of romantic," Goldie added. "But still … why take him all the way out to the Whomping Willow?"

"Weren't we out here to get something?" Catlin said suddenly, studying the full moon.

"Crap, you're right!" Evelyn began searching around the Willow and Goldie took off to the edge of the clearing to search for the fluxweed. Catlin continued to stare up at the full moon until Evelyn shouted out a cheerful, "Got it!"

"Did you get enough?" Goldie asked as they regrouped.

"Plenty. I got extra just in case. There's no way I'm losing _this_."

"Hold on," Catlin said, raising her hand to silence the other two. "I think I hear something. We better hide again."

They took their places behind the largest boulder and watched in silence. They nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard voices but saw no one. Eerily familiar … Suddenly the talking stopped, there were a few moments of silence and then, from beyond the trees, stepped out a huge stag and a large black dog. Was it just her concussion speaking to her, or was the stag _glowing red_? And had that dog always been that big? It seemed huge now - almost bear-sized.

Catlin collapsed behind the rocks, pain shooting through her shoulder at the memory of only a few days prior. The other girls were tense, terrified as they watched the animals lumber toward the tree. Something small and lithe ran through the grass and disappeared beneath the tangled roots of the tree. The swinging branches froze, as if the Willow was also terrified of the creatures standing before it. The black dog slipped past the lowest branches of the tree and disappeared into a hole in the roots. The stag milled out in the grass, snorting white plumes into the chilly air. After a few minutes, the black dog came running out, huffing and biting at the air.

"What's wrong with it?" Goldie asked, nudging Evelyn. "It's acting weird. Do you think …" She stopped to glance at a pale-faced Catlin. "Nevermind."

Evelyn watched as the dog jumped around the tree, shaking its head and panting heavily. The stag started in too, stomping the ground and snorting. Soon the small creature from before came scurrying out, clambered up the stag's legs and rested on its back. Now they could see that it was a large rat.

"This is weird," Evelyn began. "I think we should -" Before she could think of what she was going to say, something large broke out of the roots of the Whomping Willow. First came a long arm with claws, then a large head with a thin snout, then the other arm, the hunched body, spindly legs, and wide feet that sunk into the earth with each step. The creature sniffed the air and turned its head up to the sky.

"I-I-Is th-that," Goldie stammered, unable to breathe.

Evelyn was frozen, unable to even nod. Catlin had managed to kneel next to them again only a few moments before, and now she stared in abject horror alongside her friends. Her heart felt like it'd dropped to her stomach and she was cold all over.

"But they're," Catlin squeaked, close to passing out. "They're s-supposed to be … in the … the F-Forest only …"

"Uh-huh," Evelyn muttered, her eyes trained on the gangly creature sniffing around the tree.

"It's a real …" Goldie gaped, her throat suddenly dry.

"Right in front of us," Catlin added.

"A real-life …" Goldie squeezed Evelyn's hand and found it just as cold as hers.

"A werewolf," Catlin breathed, not aware she'd even spoke.

"What do we do?" Goldie asked, watching the werewolf stretch its limbs and lope around the clearing. "What if it comes over here? What if it _smells_ us?" She leaned into Evelyn, her entire body trembling. "Do we … do we run? Or do we hide?"

"I don't know," Evelyn finally said. "I … we haven't really … most of the information we've covered on werewolves just … says how to identify a-and kill … one …" Evelyn was gradually sinking lower, grasping at Goldie's arm, bringing her along. "But wh-what are th-they … doing … with it?"

Catlin was still frozen, watching as the animals moved about the tree, snorting and stomping the ground. It almost looked like they were … _playing_. The dog and werewolf both turned their noses into the air, taking deep sniffs of the air. Suddenly they both turned directly towards the girls. Their eyes glowing yellow in the moonlight. The dog's ears perked up when Evelyn shifted on the grass. Catlin raised her hand to silence them, but her coat, laden with sweets, crinkled loudly and the look of death in the other girls' eyes spoke volumes. For a brief moment, Catlin thought she'd rather face a werewolf than her friends' wrath.

The stag ambled in front of the werewolf and dog, snorted, and nodded its head in the opposite direction. The werewolf reared up, peering over the stag's head at the boulders. Too frightened to move in case she made more noise, Catlin sat with her head visible from behind their hiding spot. The werewolf tilted its head, eyes shining bright as it stared unblinking at her. Catlin stared back, her eyes drying as she refused to blink as well. To her surprise, instead of fear settling in the pit of her stomach there was something else, something unexpected. It was almost a bit like … sadness.

The stag huffed and pranced in its way, throwing its head around as if to say "let's go". Finally, the black dog gave a sharp yip and pulled the werewolf out of its daydream and back to reality - although reality seemed very strange at the moment.

The werewolf dropped to all fours, let out a soft growl, turned and trotted off past the Whomping Willow into the darkness, followed by the black dog. At the last moment, the staged turned to the girl, nodded rigidly, and galloped away.

Once it was clear, Goldie and Evelyn hoisted themselves to their feet, grabbed Catlin by her scarf and dragged her back towards the castle. She resisted for a moment, throwing a look over her shoulder towards the Willow bathed in moonlight.

"What were you _thinking_?" Evelyn cried, gripping the front of Catlin's coat. "It _heard_ you! What if it came over? What if it _killed_ you?"

"It heard _you_ ," she said airily, as if she weren't really thinking about the conversation at hand. "You moved and it … it heard you."

"What happened?" Goldie said once she caught up. "Did it see you? What did it do?"

Evelyn let go of Catlin and they all stumbled towards the castle.

"Wait," Goldie said, "what's wrong? What did you see?"

"I don't … I'm not …" Catlin tripped up the stairs, pulled open the doors and dazedly walked through the entryway, uncaring if anyone saw or heard her. Evelyn and Goldie were right behind her, keeping watch while trying to get answers. She didn't stop until she reached the Hufflepuff House and, still caught up in her thoughts, began tapping on every barrel, trying to get the door open.

"Cat, what are you doing?" Evelyn asked in a hushed tone. "Did that concussion really mess you up? Even _I_ know it's _that_ barrel." She motioned with her hand but Catlin didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Cat," Goldie echoed, reaching out. "Are you okay? Just tell us what happened …" Goldie touched Catlin's shoulder and the girl leaned away, continuing her rhythmic tapping of the barrels.

"It saw me," she breathed, now tapping the barrels haphazardly. "It saw me … and it … it's eyes …"

Goldie and Evelyn stood next to her, laying hands on her shoulders.

"Is there anything in lore about werewolves hypnotizing people?" Goldie asked, trying to move Catlin away. "You can't do that, hon, you don't have a wand, remember? Let me open it."

"Maybe," Evelyn replied, scooting Catlin out of the way so Goldie could get into the pile of barrels. "I kind of want to tell her to calm down, but I think she's _too_ calm, all things considered."

"It _saw_ me," Catlin muttered, following Evelyn's guiding hand to stand away from the pile of barrels. "And it … it looked like … I - I don't know. It was like … it knew me. And I … I f-feel like I … I know it."

" _What_?" Goldie said, looking to the girls. "That doesn't make sense … It's … You were probably just scared. I was scared too -"

Catlin shook her head defiantly. "I wasn't scared," she said. "It's weird but … I wasn't scared." Evelyn mouthed the word _Concussion_ from behind her, but Catlin turned and said, "It wasn't the concussion. It was real. I wasn't scared. I felt something else … like … I was sad. For it. And it … I don't know. I was thinking. It knows me now. It could - It could come back to the castle tonight and …"

" … kill … you?" Evelyn said slowly, making sure not to make any faces in case Catlin had eyes in the back of her head.

"No. But I … I don't know. I just feel like it'll come back to the castle and maybe, somehow, get into the castle. But I'm not scared."

"Don't be ridiculous," Evelyn said. "It couldn't get in the castle - and even if it did, it couldn't get into your House. It's too stupid to tap a barrel or tickle a painting of a pear."

"I don't think it's stupid," Catlin said gently. "You didn't see it. It didn't see _you_. Oh." She stopped and finally looked at her friends. "But I think it did smell you."

"Huh?" Evelyn said.

"I think the werewolf and the dog smelled you - us - all of us. It … might track us down."

"Uh, it'll track _you_ down," Evelyn defended. "I mean - you kinda had a stare down with a freaking werewolf, didn't you? You know you're not supposed to look a dog in the eyes, right? They take it as a challenge. You might die."

"Thanks," Catlin said. "I'll remember that for next time." It sounded oddly like she was taking it as serious advice.

"Hey," Evelyn cut in again, "listen - _I_ have to _walk back_ to my House in the dark, _alone_ with _that thing_ out there. You'll be fine in here, safe and sound. Okay?" She paused and turned to Goldie. "Actually … I really don't wanna walk by myself … Can I stay here tonight?"

Goldie nodded solemnly and finally tapped the correct barrel with her wand. "Come on, let's go."

"Actually," Catlin said, slinking away from the two. "I have to go back to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey is probably furious with me."

Evelyn headed for the entry to the Hufflepuff House, "Tell her that you sleep walk and somehow managed to get past her."

"That might work."

"Be safe walking back," Goldie said. "We'll see you later, okay?"

Goldie and Evelyn hurried into the House before they could be caught, and Catlin scurried down the hall towards the hospital wing, wondering how on earth she would explain to Madam Pomfrey why she was out of bed. Then again, maybe she had her own blackmailing tool to use against the nurse. If Madam Pomfrey demanded she tell her why she was out of bed, maybe Catlin could ask why she was escorting Remus to the Whomping Willow in the dead of night. Then again, with her drowsiness, the medicine she was taking, and the throbbing concussion, Catlin probably wouldn't remember anything by the next morning.


	11. Siriusly Annoying

**A/N:** Alright! I'm happy to publish another chapter! I'll try to keep all chapters between 2-3k words and hopefully we can get some fun things happening ...

* * *

Saturdays were supposed to be comfortable, a time to relax and maybe catch up with homework, hang out with friends, sleep in until noon, do something fun. This was not comfortable. It was not fun. It was _awful_.

Okay, it wasn't awful for Goldie who was preparing for her date ("Not a real date, it's a study date!") with Jake DeLeon and, unfortunately, Big Mouth Bernice. But she was the only one having fun in their friend group. Evelyn was stuck making Polyjuice Potion in the off-limits bathroom with Moaning Myrtle hanging over her shoulder and Catlin was being reprimanded by a flustered and very angry Madam Pomfrey who was still questioning _how_ she got out and _where_ she went. Truly she was thankful Catlin had returned of her own volition, though she commented on how the concussion was still too bad to let her wander off in the castle by herself and she'd be staying over the weekend.

Catlin awoke to the sound of Madam Pomfrey storming over to her bed and shaking her awake, shouting all sorts of things that sounded like gibberish to her still half-asleep brain. The long and the short it was that Catlin was, not totally unexpectedly, in trouble for leaving without being officially released. But Catlin wasn't too worried about possible punishments (what would Madam Pomfrey do? It's not like she'd give her detention since that would require Catlin leaving the hospital wing to do things), because when she looked over she saw a body slumped in one of the beds across the room. It was faced away from her but she could tell by its short hair and broad shoulders it was a boy - probably older than her too, judging from how tall he was. He was wrapped in the sheets up to his neck and a heavy quilt was laid over him. Pomfrey excused herself to check on him and when he stirred, she departed to grab tea and a block of chocolate.

Catlin continued to watch in silence, her mind still swimming with the events of last night. Thankfully she _hadn't_ forgotten anything and she was stuck on the idea of the werewolf running around the grounds. The boy sat up slowly as if his entire body was sore and stiff, and he graciously took the mug of tea from Pomfrey and a large chunk of chocolate.

The nurse saw Catlin staring and wagged her finger at her. "Chocolates don't help concussions! If you really want to get out of here and help your friends then you'll _rest_. Don't you want to leave? You've been here longer than any of my other patients before. You sure are stubborn." Then she set off at a brisk pace towards her office, block of chocolate in her arms.

Before she could turn away, the boy shifted and looked over at her. She was surprised to see that it was the _last_ person she expected to see in the hospital wing. Or maybe not. The three girls (i.e. Evelyn) had been worried Remus was taken out to the Whomping Willow to be executed and then he'd disappeared when they weren't looking. Perhaps this is exactly where she expected him to be.

"Remus?" she said, her voice sounding distant in the large hospital wing. Remus looked just as surprised, but he blinked a few times and his face softened.

"You must be Catlin, huh?"

"How did you know …?"

"Your friends are worried about you. And they're … I imagine you know by now - they're doing everything they can to help you. And since _we_ haven't met, I'm guessing you know me because they told you?"

Catlin suddenly realized that she _hadn't_ ever met Remus; she'd been in the hospital wing since before her friends met him too. How did she know him? She had recognized him the night before when they were out by the Whomping Willow. She couldn't recall how she knew him, his name was simply in her mind. He must've been right - Goldie or Evelyn must have described him to her, because there was no other way she'd know him. "What are you doing here?"

Remus sipped on his tea and nibbled at the block of chocolate but didn't answer her question. "You should listen to Madam Pomfrey. The sooner you get better, the sooner you can get out of here and back to your friends. I know that's important to you."

Suddenly there came a loud banging sound, the hospital wing doors flew open and Sirius came striding in, holding an armful of treats, heading straight for Remus's bed.

"You wouldn't believe the trouble I had trying to get these," he said, dumping the boxes of candy onto the bed. "I had to _wait_ because no stores were open in Hogsmeade this early -" He stopped and looked over at Catlin, who was watching him curiously. Instead of trying to backtrack, he just smiled and gave a curt bow. "I remember you from last time I came in here. I imagine you're almost better now? Oh, and I'm sure you've met my friends Remus here."

"Let her sleep, Sirius. She probably wants to get out of here. You know how long she's been in the hospital wing."

"What? And miss all the fun of hanging out while you're in here?"

Abruptly, like a shot from a cannon, Madam Pomfrey came barreling out of her office, face red as she shouted at Sirius. "Get out of here! You are not allowed to be in here! How many times do I have to tell you?"

Sirius gave a great slap to Remus's back, who winced in pain, then lobbed half a dozen boxes of chocolate frogs to Catlin's bed and gave her a salute. "Don't stay in here too long, or else your friends will think I'm hexing you to stay sick. I'd love to stay and talk more but I've got to g -" Sirius turned and bolted out of the hospital wing, followed by Madam Pomfrey. Remus shook his head and raised the mug to his lips again.

"Let me know if you want to trade any of your cards. I don't collect them, so you can have any of mine. And you better hide them from Madam Pomfrey, it sounded like she didn't want you eating chocolate."

Catlin quickly pushed the boxes under her pillow and smiled innocently at the nurse as she walked past them, giving her a stern look.

"If you stay put for the next two days, I'll make sure I release you in time for classes on Monday along with Remus. Deal?"

Catlin nodded firmly. "Deal."

"Good. Now … I better not hear any talking while I'm in my office. You're both to sleep and that's it. Understood?"

Remus and Catlin nodded firmly. Madam Pomfrey eyed them again before going back to her office. Slowly, the two patients exchanged looks and couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

Evelyn was having a worse time being cooped up in a leaky bathroom with Moaning Myrtle. She kept floating around the room, _whining_ about how she didn't get to help more even though, as Evelyn reminded her, they only agreed to let her count how many times Evelyn stirred the cauldron. Nothing more and nothing less. Still, Myrtle was absolutely devastated that she wasn't allowed to put anything _into_ the cauldron.

"You could help by keeping quiet," Evelyn said bitterly as she tried to read over the directions for the umpteenth time. "We can't do anything until the lacewing flies are stewed for twenty-one days. It's only been one day! So there really is nothing for you to do!"

Moaning Myrtle huffed in anger and floated back to her stall. " _Fine! I guess it was a waste of time for me to steal your fluxweed. You aren't even doing anything fun._ "

"Wait - you _what_?" Evelyn barked, her head snapping towards the translucent girl.

Myrtle turned around and shrugged, giving a heavy sigh and dramatic pout. " _I really wanted to be helpful so I stole your fluxweed. You remember yesterday? How it suddenly just disappeared? I took it._ "

Evelyn crushed the parchment in her hands and strode towards the ghost, shaking the paper at her. "Why would you do that!"

" _Because I wanted to help!_ "

"You almost got us killed! We saw - oh, you're not going to tell anyone _because no one comes to visit you._ We saw a werewolf last night! We could have been torn to pieces!"

Myrtle shrugged again, sniffling as she balled her hands into fists. " _I told you to be careful, that there were monsters out there during the full moon._ "

"Are you serious! Ooooh my gosh, no wonder you died here alone! You're awful!"

Moaning Myrtle screwed up her face as if she were going to start screaming, but instead she let out a soft, whining sound like a baby about to cry and said, " _You're mean. No wonder you only have two friends!_ " Then she shot into the bathroom stall and down the toilet, sending a spout of water into the air. Evelyn ducked out of the way and returned to the cauldron, smoothing out the paper. "Forget this, I'm going back to breakfast. I don't have to even do anything for three weeks. And, by the way, Myrtle, two friends is better than none!"

Hiding the parchment in the pocket of her jeans, Evelyn slunk out of the bathroom and down the hall, keeping watch for any teachers or other students. If she didn't have to do much for the next twenty days, then she wasn't going to spend her time hiding out in a gross bathroom with an annoying ghost - she could be doing other things, like homework or sleeping or literally _anything else_. At least this part of the Potion making was easy, considering how complicated the rest of it was.

Evelyn turned a corner to head toward the dining hall and almost collided with Sirius as he ran past her, heading in the same direction.

"Watch where you're -! Oh, it's _you_."

"Sorry, would love to talk but -" Sirius tossed a chocolate frog box into the air and it hit Evelyn in the face, tumbling down her sweater and to the ground. "You were supposed to catch that!"

"Like I knew you were going to throw it! Why are you running? Come back here - did you steal these?"

Sirius was gone, around another corner. Evelyn grumbled in annoyance, scooped up the box and looked it over.

"This seems unethical. _Especially_ for a vegetarian and future magizoologist like myself." Still, she stuffed the box into her pocket and headed towards the dining hall, hoping her absence hadn't been noticed.

* * *

Goldie's hands shook as she placed another bobby pin into her hair. It was hard to keep it under control when she was stressed. Perhaps it was magic flooding through her veins and out into her follicles, but whenever she was under stress, her hair seemed larger - curlier - even more unmanageable than usual. Now _really_ wasn't the time for it to be acting up. She only had fifteen minutes to get to the library to meet Jake for their date.

Study date.

It was a date. He had said so.

Giggling childishly, Goldie forced an extra long bobby pin into her hair and smoothed out the front of her clothes and looked herself over in the full-length mirror propped up against the wall in her dorm room. She thought she looked okay - nice enough for a date, but casual enough since they'd be doing studying. She was wearing high-waisted corduroy trousers and a cable knit sweater. It was very cold in the library and since she figured they'd be spending quite a bit of time there, she wanted to be warm and comfortable.

Happy with how she looked, Goldie grabbed all of her materials and headed out of the Hufflepuff House and towards the library. She continuously went over what to say in her mind - how should she greet Jake? Would Bernice already be there? Would she flake? Maybe she would and then it would just be Goldie and Jake. That'd be nice.

Smiling to herself, Goldie pushed open the library doors and scanned the tables. She quickly spotted Jake sitting alone and gave a silent prayer of thanks that Bernice was nowhere to be seen. Gripping her books tightly, Goldie took a shaky breath to calm herself and strode over to Jake's table. He looked up at her as she approached and gave another soft half-smile.

"Right on time," he said.

"Huh?"

"You're right on time. Unlike …" He motioned to the empty seats around him. "I don't think she'll show."

 _Good_ , Goldie thought, _then I'll get you all to myself._ "O-Oh. Right. That's a shame. I really thought we could help her."

"Yeah. You want to sit down?"

"Yes." Goldie plopped down in the seat across from Jake and mentally cursed herself for not sitting next to him. She set her stack of parchment, quills, and her few textbooks on the table. "Did you hear? Professor Binns finally came back so Professor Uggeri is gone. Maybe - uh, maybe Bernice figured since Uggeri is the one who suggested she join us, she doesn't have to do it."

"Maybe. I guess if she shows, then she shows. If not, then it'll just be us. Did you want to get started?"

"Sure!" Goldie spread out her items and drummed her fingers on the table. "What did you want to start with?"

Jake's eyes flickered past Goldie and his eyebrow twitched upwards for a brief moment. "Here comes trouble."

"What?"

Goldie turned around expecting, dreading, to see Bernice, but was even more horrified to see Sirius Black walking towards them. _No! Don't you dare!_

Sirius spotted Goldie, smiled and rushed to the table, taking the seat right beside her. "Hello, Goldie. How long as it been?"

"Not l-"

"Too long, definitely. You know, I just ran into both of your friends - Cat and Evie?"

"It's _Catlin_ and _Evelyn_ to you," Goldie said quickly, feeling heat rise to her face. "And how did you see Catlin? She's in the hospital wing."

"I know! It's really awful, but she should be feeling better soon. I got her a little gift."

"I don't think she wants any gift you have to give her. Unless it's a … chocolate _wand_."

Sirius slapped his chest with his palm and gasped, "Not want my gift? Why not?" He dug through a pocket and dropped another small handful of chocolate frog boxes onto the table, then he noticed Jake. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt you two? Are you on a date?"

Goldie, as nonchalantly as she could, stomped on Sirius's foot. To her surprise, Sirius merely bit the inside of his cheek and gave a closed-mouth smile.

"Would you look at the time? I should be going. Goldie, I believe you're helping me with my homework later, right?"

"I've already -" Goldie glanced at Jake who was watching them in silence. "I'll meet you back here before dinner, if you want. We can go over … the material."

"Perfect! It's a date - sorry, _not_ a date. Don't worry - what's your name?"

"Jake."

"Jake! Wonderful." Sirius stuck out his hand and Jake took it, shaking it. "You don't have to worry about me, I'm not going to try to steal her from you. Not my type -"

"Hey -!"

"You kids have fun." Sirius pushed away from the table and hurried to another section of the library; Goldie couldn't imagine why he was there at all, since he didn't need to study or do research for homework. Maybe he was just there to antagonize her.

"Goldie?"

She turned back to Jake and flushed red when she realized he had been staring at her. "Y-Yeah?"

"You seem distracted. Did you want to resc -"

"No! No - this is fine! I'm fine! I just wasn't expecting to see … _him._ But I'm totally ready to study now." Goldie slapped the cover of one of her textbooks and smiled. "Let's get started, huh?"

Jake glanced over the table, his expression unchanging. "Actually …"

 _Uh oh. Now what? Does he not like me? Did Sirius ruin this? I'll kill him if he did!_

"I don't really feel like studying right now. It's too nice of a day to spend it inside."

 _Great. He's going to cancel on me. This is so embarrassing. I'll have to walk back to Hufflepuff House carrying all this stuff. At least I'll be right next to the kitchen. I'm going to have to binge eat my emotions if he leaves._

"Do you want to go for a walk around the lake?"

Suddenly Goldie wished she hadn't worn a sweater because her blush was creating more than enough heat to keep her warm. She grabbed at the corners of one of the large textbooks and stared at him with huge eyes. "W-Walk?"

"Yes. Outside?" He took note of her clothes. "Are you cold? We can stay in here if you want -"

"No! I'm fine! We can definitely go for a walk! I'd much rather do that than study any day of the week."

"Okay, then. Let's go." Jake stood from the table and Goldie mimicked him, bringing one of the books up along with her. "You can leave those."

"Shouldn't I take them back to my House?"

Jake shrugged, "It's Saturday and the weather is nice. There isn't going to be anyone else in the library, if you're worried about it being taken. Well except for …" Jake motioned behind Goldie and she turned to see Sirius was peeking out from behind a shelf of books, watching them. Once he was spotted, he hurriedly grabbed a random book, threw it open and nodded vigorously and muttered to himself, as if he'd been reading it the entire time. "I don't think he's going to steal these books."

"Yeah, it's not like he does his own homework anyway."

"Hm?"

"Oh - no-nothing!" Goldie laughed nervously and set the book back down on the table. "Did you want to go out to the lake now?"

Jake nodded and the two met at the end of the table so they could walk out of the library together. Before the doors closed, Goldie threw another glance towards Sirius who still held the large book in one hand. With his free hand, he gave an eager thumbs up and she felt her cheeks burn red again.

 _What an idiot. How did HE manage to blackmail us?_


End file.
